Perfect World
by Lady Shinimegami
Summary: Parallel time line. Looks at the 8 months leading up to someones birth.
1. She's Pregnant

(Warning: Drugs, violence, swearing. Has a very Trainspotting, Basketball Diary type theme. This is completely different universe. No Saiyan-Jins. For plot purposes, Goku and Vegeta were born onto our planet. Ages are all different too. Trunks: 17 Goten/Marron: 16 Bra: 13 Pan: 12. Enjoy)

1

_Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television. Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance. Choose fixed insurance mortgaged payments. Chose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose a tree-piece suite on hire purchase in a range of cucking fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mindnumbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pishing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked-up brats you spawned to replace yourself. Choose your future. Choose Life... But why would I want to do a thing like that?_

"I love you."

She mumbled as she nuzzled up closer to him. She had long brown hair, black eyes and an amazing body. She was a real catch, truly. But his mind was far away from thinking about her as they leaned against the tree.

"Stop saying that," he mumbled annoyed, he brushed back some of his black hair and looked around expectantly.

He wasn't too bad looking himself, short black spiky hair, black eyes, but there were better looking, so it had always been a true mystery as to why they were dating.

"What?" She asked calmly.

"Stop saying that," he repeated again.

"Stop saying I love you?"

"Yes, stop that."

It wasn't that he didn't like her, no, he really did like her. He didn't love her though. He never had, he always though she was beautiful and always, always liked her company. But truly... he didn't love her, and wasn't too sure why he was dating her.

"Fine then..." she mumbled and stood up.

"Where are you going?" He asked, not bothering to move.

"I'm going home now Goten," she muttered, not bothering to stop.

"Paresu!" He called after her, but she didn't stop, she didn't even acknowledge him anymore. "Ah shit..."

It was ok if he didn't want to date her, but it wasn't ok that he was acting like an asshole to her. But after what _she_ had said...

"And people wonder why I don't date you," a monotone voice came from above Goten, he looked up and found the smiling face and purple hair belonging to Trunks.

"That's not the reason I don't date you," he replied, glaring at his best friend.

Trunks grabbed the branch and swung over, landing gracefully on his feet beside his best friend.

"Sure it is, I know you love me," he proclaimed watching Paresu go.

"Don't flatter yourself," Goten mumbled and buried his face in his hands.

"What was that all about anyway?" Trunks asked now sitting beside him, he just couldn't stay still.

"I don't think I wanna date her anymore," he confessed.

"Are you insane?" Trunks asked, calmly looking at Goten like he very well was insane. "My friend, you will never find another person willing to date you... especially not a girl so... well... mmm... you know."

"I know, I know. And I know this is crazy, but she said she loves me."

"So, say you love her back and you'll get la-"

"Trunks!" Goten said hitting him. "It's not about that!"

"Then what the hell is it about?" He asked rubbing his head, now officially annoyed with the younger boy.

"You know we went to that party with Marron last month, right?"

"Yeah... oh man..." Trunks smiled. "You didn't!"

"I did."

Goten let his head fall back on the tree, it hurt, but he didn't care. He felt like an asshole right now.

"Well aren't you the slut!" Trunks proclaimed hitting him ever so playfully on his shoulder. "You slept with Marron…"

"She's pregnant."

"Wha...?" The colour drained from his face.

"She's having a baby. My baby… She wants to have it."

Trunks continued to stare at his friend rather shocked. Goten was busy hitting his head on the tree trunk.

"And Paresu doesn't know right?"

"No... I should tell her..."

"NO!" Trunks yelled grabbing both of Goten's shoulders and looking at him fearfully. "Just break up with her. It will save you a world of fucking trouble!"

"I can't lie to her-"

"You're not lying! You're simply not telling!"

"Trunks-"

"Take my advice," he said forcefully.

"And you're such the expert..." He said and Trunks let him go.

"Look, I've been through enough of these things to know that no good comes from telling the truth. Simply tell her that you don't wanna date. Wait a couple weeks and then date Marron. But never, ever tell Paresu you started dating again."

"Why should I listen to you?" Goten asked looking away again.

"Because you know I'm right."

"There really isn't any other way out of this is there?"

Trunks shook his head and said no. Goten sighed, what had he gotten himself into?

"Look, I'll give you a drive home," Trunks muttered standing up now he held out a hand for Goten. He took the hand and soon the two boys were walking to Trunks' car.

Trunks always gave Goten a drive, but he always felt like he needed to remind the younger boy. Maybe he didn't think Goten was able to remember something small like that... maybe... just maybe...

Good old K.C.V.I, the local High School that they attended. Goten, Trunks and Marron all went to the same school. Pan and Bra attended Vanier, the Junior High on the third level. They all lived a fairly normal life, ya know, eat, sleep, insert individual favourite hobby here.

The three of then were in Grade 12, getting ready to graduate in a handful of weeks. Goten's little sister Pan and Trunks' little sister Bra were only in Grade 7 though... simply the beginning of their problems.

Summer Vacations were just one month away, the freedom could be smelt in the air, but until then they had to endure.

They walked to the back of the school were the parking lot was situated, not too many people were left. Trunks had been held after school for something or other he had done in the past week. Set off those cherry bombs in the toilet, getting in a fight, vandalism, etc.

"Well if it isn't the lovely couple!" The two shuddered and turned around in unison to come face to face with Yakuzai Noroi (Zai) and his lackeys. They weren't the most popular kids in school, but Zai was. "Out for a walk I see?"

He was your average jock, he had the school boys rugby jersey on and wore kahkis. They all wore similar clothing. He had short blond hair and they all had the same haircut. Whether it was blond, brown or black, it was spiked at the front.

"Just don't say anything," Trunks whispered to Goten.

"You mean ignore them?"

"Yeah."

"Then why did we turn around?"

"Whispering sweet nothings to each other I see," Zai said and walked forward, the two boys tensed, ready to fight. Zai took hold of some of Trunks hair in his hands and began to absent-mindedly play with it. "You two are so gay it makes me sick."

"At least I don't play with guy's hair," Trunks' mumbled under his breath, but Zai heard. He brought his knee up and it impacted Trunks' stomach.

"No, you fuck other men." Trunks doubled over in pain, gasping for breath.

"You asshole!" Goten yelled and punched Zai.

Zai stumbled back and shook his head to regain his senses. He then whipped his mouth, blood coming off onto his fingers.

"You fucking fag."

His lackeys were suddenly on the two, pounding the shit out of them. They fought back, and fought back well, but not well enough. They were still overpowered.

"What the fuck is going on!" A woman's voice came from behind them putting the assault to a halt.

Everyone turned around to see Paresu standing there, her arms crossed and she was glaring.

"Ah, Paresu, we were just-"

"Save it for mom," she mumbled walking over and pushing past his lackeys. He let go of Goten's collar and let him fall to the ground gasping for breath. She moved past some more lackeys and dragged Trunks to his feet.

"Paresu, this is really none of your business."

"It is when you beat up my boyfriend," she shouted back.

"Look-"

"No! You look! I don't care about what you do at school, but when you start hurting the people I love, it crosses the line."

With that she stormed off, Trunks and Goten in tow.

"How the hell do you hold that kind of power of him?" Trunks asked, bedazzled by her powers.

"He's my brother, I'm the one person who can destroy his social life."

"Thanks..." Goten muttered.

Paresu shot him a glance that could kill.

"I should have left you there."

"What?"

"Don't play stupid with my Goten Son. After the way you just treated me..."

"Paresu... look. I'm sorry. Stuff has been going on. In all truth... I... uh... well... you see..."

"Oh just say it!"

"He wants to dump you," Trunks said as he spit some blood out, that wasn't a good sign.

"WHAT!" Paresu yelled, staring Goten down.

"Well... ah... TRUNKS!" Goten yelled at his friend who has too preoccupied with his wounds.

"Don't call to him for help, he's not the one wanting to break up with me after I saved your ass!"

"But I didn't say it!"

"But is it true?"

"Well..."

"Goodbye Goten," she said and started walking away.

"Wait! Paresu!" Goten called after her, but again she didn't pay attention to him. Then Goten turned his anger to his 'best friend'. "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

"WHAT! I just did you a favour!" Trunks said looking up from his spitting blood.

"A favour!"

"You would have never done it."

"Oh Christ! I could kill you!"

"Then kill me, I'm already half there!"

Goten's face then turned from mad to companionate.

"You look bad man..."

"No shit! Let's go home," he mumbled and started to limp away.

"Fuck that," Goten said grabbing his arm, he directed Trunks to the passenger seat of the car and then got in behind the wheal. He took the keys from Trunks and started the car.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Taking you to the hospital," he said and started driving out of the lot.

"I'm not that badly hurt."

"Spiting blood is a bad thing, now let's go."

Nothing more was said about Paresu, Marron or their injuries as Goten drove to the hospital.

"Where were you boy?"

That was the first thing Trunks heard as he walked in the house. House, mansion, whatever. His mother was rich, his father a martial artist out of place. The two made a good couple though. They were quite alike when you thought about it.

After the hospital journey he had driven Goten home and then drove himself home. They weren't too badly injured. Zai and his lackeys would never beat them up so badly, he just knew it.

"Internal bleeding." The doctor had said to him. "Take it easy for the next few days."

Their cover story had been falling down the stairs at school, the doctor had been reluctant to believe this, but in the end, he had too. Funny how often they fell down the stairs...

The worst injury of the two was his sprained wrist that was now wrapped in gauze, but hey, wasn't bad if he could drive home.

"Goten's house?" Trunks replied his father's question of his whereabouts.

"And what happened to your wrist?" Vegeta asked, now walking down the wall towards Trunks.

"I uh, fell down the stairs." Vegeta raised an eyebrow. "I tripped. Not like I can fly or anything."

"Before you learn how to fly, you should learn how to walk," Vegeta answered and began walking away.

"That would be a start." Trunks replied with nervous laughter.

Vegeta just shook his head as he walked away. If he said he fell down the stairs... again... then he fell down the stairs... again. Even though he never fell down the stairs at home, but always fell down them at school. The story wasn't very believable, but he wasn't that interested.

"I have got to think of something new to say for an excuse..." Trunks mumbled ascending the stairs to go to his room.

(Ok, from reading this those of you who know about 'Trainspotting' and 'The Basketball Diaries' are probably wondering why I think this Fic has anything to do with those wonderful movies. They're not Scottish; they're not living on their own getting high every five seconds. They're not in a park shooting dogs asses, nor are they fucking 15 year Olds wow... I make the movie sound so bad, there's no basketball. And Marron being pregnant is the only thing that kinda works in there. Well, wait a bit. This Fic doesn't follow 'Trainspotting' and 'Basketball Diaries' plot, but it follows its theme. Heroin. Angst. Finding your way in life. This Fic is gonna follow Goten, Trunks and Marron's life for the next 7 months and maybe backtrack sometimes with flashbacks. I'm estimating 10 chapters, but, I know not for sure. By the by. Zai, he is real, his real name isn't 'Zai', but he exist. And though he tried to act tough, he's never beaten _me_ up once, it was always the other way around. So maybe I'm making him better than he is. Anyhoo, sayonara)


	2. Under The Bridge

2

Goten let out a sigh as he sat under the bridge, waiting and smoking a joint. He went there every Sunday night, it was his little tradition, sit there smoking a joint as the trains came and left at about 9 PM. He went there mostly to not get caught by his mother, he feared what that would lead too.

Until you have sat a few feet away from a moving train, stoned, you won't be able to know how absolutely zen-like it is. That was the other reason he went there every Sunday night.

However, it wasn't night this time, neither was it Sunday. It was Saturday morning. Marron and he had decided today would be the day they told their families. So Krilin and Juuhachigou, Marron's parents, were coming over to his house.

Marron was trying, and failing, to cheer him up with the positive side.

"Maybe Chichi will be excited about being a grandma. Maybe she's not against you having children before your married... or having sex before your married."

She tried, and she got and 'E' for effort, but mind you, there and two 'F's in 'eFFort'. He was scared of how their parents would react, no, nervous how their parents would react. He shouldn't fear people. Didn't fear Zai, why fear his mom?

What a silly question...

The train was gone then, on that early hour of around 10 AM. He let his head slip back and stare at the spray painted art all over the bridge walls. This was truly the ideal place to get stoned.

He wasn't too sure how long he simply sat there, taking puffs here and there, reading over words he had read many, many times before. Then Marron's head came into his view, startled, he jumped to his feet.

"Marron, what's up?" He asked wanting to find out why she was there. It was no secret to her and Trunks that he came here every week, so he wasn't worried about that.

"Time to go, my parents will be at you house at noon," she replied in her quiet way. Her hair was done back in a loose braid and she was wearing a nice light blue summer dress with sandals. He felt like a skid with his blue jeans and green sweater on.

"Then lets go," he replied. He would have thrown his joint down, but he found that there was no joint to throw away. Must have dropped it some time back. Not wanting to waist anymore time, they headed towards the train station then turned to their left to get to the top on of the bridge.

It was a fairly long walk home, and he was stoned, so it would take longer.

Surprisingly enough, the two arrived at home on time. Their parents all sat around the dinning room table, Chichi serving them some tea and little pastries. At the site of his mother, Goten began sweating out of fear.

Chichi disappeared back into the kitchen as the two entered the dinning room.

His high had pretty much gone, but Marron was still very much pregnant. She could tell he was nervous, like she could smell his fear, so she led him to a seat right beside Juuhachigou.

Funny, that only made him that much more nervous. Marron's mother was known for her protectiveness of her loved ones, and a fairly short temper, especially when it came to loved ones. Like, her daughter.

Goku sat across the table from him, wearing his usual stupid grin on his face, Krilin sat in between Juuhachigou and Goku, the two men talking about something or other. Marron took a seat beside him and facing her mother. She took his hand and squeezed it in comfort.

Finally Chichi came back in the room, she had her smile on, but Goten knew it could soon simply disappear. She took a seat beside Marron and Goku.

"So, what is this news of yours Goten?" She asked, noticing them holding hands, but making no mention of it... yet.

Goten took a breath, and the two began to explain.

"He lives!" Trunks exclaimed upon seeing Goten the next day. He knew Goten was breaking the news to Chichi, so he decided to come today to see if he should make plans to go to a movie or to Goten's funeral.

"Ha... ha... ha..." Goten replied in a monotone voice. He looked a mixture of annoyed, angry and tired. It couldn't have gone to well then.

"So... details," Trunks said, inviting himself in, Goten reluctantly took a step aside and let Trunks in, closing the door after him, shutting the damn sun out again. The house was very dark, normally it was sunny, not a good sign. "It feels like I stepped into purgatory or something."

"You have," Goten said walking up the stairs to go to his room, Trunks followed him in his all too cheery manner.

He had all the reason to be cheery, his wrist was completely better now, and as far as he was concerned, so were his insides. Next time he got into a fight with Zai, he would come out victorious. Of course, Trunks figured that to be tomorrow, especially after Goten dumped his sister and all.

"So... why is it so dark in here?" He asked as the two got into Goten's room, all the windows and blinds shut, no lights or anything. Goten immediately went to his bed and sat down.

"Nobody's here, and I have a headache," he replied and let himself fall back on his bed.

"Was Chichi very mad then?"

"Well... dad thought the news was just absolutely fantastic, Krilin was a bit awry..."

"We're missing two people there," Trunks pointed out.

"Juuhachigou took me aside afterwards and said, basically, if I fucked this up, she's tear my eyes out and use them as hood oddments."

"Oo, nasty," but the mental picture came off a bit funny to Trunks. "And Chichi?"

"Didn't I tell you I had a headache?"

"Heh, heh," Trunks sat down on a chair beside Goten's bed. "This calls for serious entertainment. Let's see, we could go to a bar, watch a movie-"

"Stay home and eat more Tylenol... stupid shit never works..."Goten grumbled and turned over. "I need a joint."

"Don't think I'm gonna give you one, I don't smoke that shit."

"Never said you did..."

"Hum... well... I'm not gonna bum around here all night. I'll just have to make myself a date tonight," Trunks said standing up. "Shouldn't be too hard."

"Don't flattered yourself," came Gotens muffled response.

Trunks just smiled and went to the door. "See ya latter."

Goten was on the bus to go to school for the first time in about six months. Trunks' car was in the shop getting a tune-up, so the two teens had to make their own way to school. Goten hated taking the bus, mostly because of who was on it.

Zai.

That guy could be so annoying... and he just knew that after dumping Paresu he'd be on his back for the next month, until school ended. He was always finding new ways to bug them. Goten sometimes wondered exactly why he did this.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when a boy sat down next to him, Goten turned his eyes to stare into the face of a grinning jock. He wore black cargo pants, and a black and white stripped ADIDAS shirt. His hair was short, brown, the top bleached and front spiked. One of Zai's lackeys.

Then he felt a hand on his forehead pushing his head back into the window and turning it to face his front where the owner of the hand sat, Zai. Another lackey sat beside him, looking almost identical to the one who sat beside him.

"Well, what brings you our way?" Zai asked in his mocking voice. "Isn't enough that you dump my sister, but now you have to take _our_ bus to school."

"Isn't your bus," Goten replied glaring at him, Zai took his arm away and Goten moved away from the window quickly. "What the fuck do you want?"

"What the fuck do _we_ want?" Zai asked looking around to his lackeys, all of them wore the same cruel smile. "Question is, what do you want?"

"Some would think to go to school," Goten replied and someone behind him slapped his head, another lackey he supposed. He was surrounded.

"Well, how much money do you have Goten?" Zai asked, Goten was almost shocked, Zai wasn't the type to steal lunch money or anything, he just got pleasure out of hurting people it seemed. "Well?"

Goten remained silent, he didn't want to know where this was going. The look in Zai's eyes was simply wild, he couldn't explain it. They were kinda red, fierce, psychotic, and yet had this almost glazed touch to them.

"What about that friend of yours?" He asked and his smile grew wider.

"Listen, quad-fucker-" He said this with total confidence, but didn't get to finish his sentence before Zai's arm shot forward grabbing his neck and pushing him back. Goten making a choking sound as he looked out the window to see they were at school.

"Let's go for a walk Goten," Zai said, letting go of Goten throat, the lackey beside him then grabbed his arm, dragging him out of the seat before he could catch his breath. He found himself being pushed and dragged down the aisle and out of the bus.

"Let me go," Goten snapped to the boy holding his arm, but he only held on tighter. He had this sudden feeling of regret wash over him, not only could Paresu not save him this time, but Trunks couldn't back him up. He was completely outnumbered.

Forcing him up the sidewalk and then to the right to the main entrance, Goten found himself soon in the school. Why were they taking him to the school? Maybe they weren't gonna beat him up after all...

Usually when Goten got to school, Trunks and him went to the safe in the basement. There were several ways to get there, they normally went through the door by the parking lot, but if you went through the main entrance, there was a stairwell to the direct left leading to the basement and a payphone.

Once at the bottom of those stairs, it was through some more doors, then your turned directly to your right and right again to where there was a safe in the wall. The only thing in the safe was a bunch of desks though.

Oddly enough, Goten soon found himself there being pushed into the corner. He didn't fall down, rather he turned and glared at his captors.

"Now what?" Goten asked grimly, he wanted to sit down, but he didn't dare.

"Now we wait," Zai said folding his arms and leaning against the wall.

"For?" Goten asked very much confused, he did a once over, there were about ten of them, and he knew for sure there was only one of him. Goten then noticed one of the lackeys holding an Easton hockey stick. There were no cameras around.

"Your boyfriend," Zai replied calmly grinning.

"Trunks?" Goten asked.

"Glad to see you know his name," Zai said with a bit of a chuckle, and Goten couldn't be sure, but he thought he saw resentment in Zai's eyes, almost jealousy.

"Goten?"

The small girl's voice that could only belong to Pan was heard by the group, they all turned in unison to find her and Bra standing there looking on with curiosity and confusion.

"Hello," Zai said, not in any tone of voice at all, but a very neutral one.

"Who are you?" Pan asked annoyed by him instantly, Bra gave a look of instant dislike.

"Goten, have you seen Trunks?" Bra asked ignoring the bunch. "He owes me my allowance."

Made sense that she didn't know where he was, the two got to school by different means, left at different times, etc. Pan normally went with Bra. He found comfort in this, because it was delaying the inevitable.

"Um... kids..." Zai said standing away from the wall with his hands now in his khakis pockets. "We're kinda busy right now... but, we'll tell your brother to catch up with you at lunch."

"We have different lunch times," Pan said coldly, she hated the tone he was taking, like they were little children that needed everything explained very carefully. She didn't want to leave, she felt like something bad would happen to Goten.

"Then after school," Zai said, his voice showing a bit of annoyance towards Pan.

"I need the money for lunch though," Bra protested, still not noticing any danger. "I doubt I'll see him before that..."

"Look," Zai said, trying to smile, but his patience was getting short. "I'll-"

"Do what?" Another voice joined the group, everyone looked towards the direction of the hall opposite the doors that they had come in by to find Trunks standing there, he wore a glare that could kill.

"Trunks... we were just talking about you," Zai said happy that he wouldn't have to deal with the kids anymore. The lackey holding the hockey stick began taping it on the ground as if in a warning.

"Trunks, I need my allowance," Bra demanded turning around.

"In a sec Bra," Trunks replied not looking away from Zai.

"No, now," Bra said walking towards her brother annoyed.

The warning bell sounded throughout the halls, the teens didn't seem to care, but Bra, Pan and Goten sure did.

"I'm gonna be late!" Goten yelled, and because their attention wasn't on him, he managed to sneak past the lackeys and over to Trunks and Bra. Pan was quick on his heals, and then the four turned the corner and were gone.

Zai sighed, and looked around at his lackeys. Damn kids always get in the way... "See you after school, faggot," Zai mumbled to himself and the lackeys understood, then the group began to break apart.

Impatient, Zai left class a few minutes early, a couple of his lackeys in the class following him out. The teacher attempted to get them to stay, but, they never listened to him anyway, why start now when they had an appointment?

They went to the front entrance where they sat on either side of the door on big bricks laid for the lamps, but most kids used them as a place to sit as they smoked a cigarette or two in between class. None of them were smoking right now. They simply waited for their prey.

School finally ended and whatever lackey had been at the ordeal that morning, now sat by the door waiting for Trunks and Goten. The only visible weapon being the hockey stick, teacher misunderstood its purpose and didn't yell and the boy.

Didn't take long for Trunks and Goten to walk through the doors, they saw Zai and his lackeys sitting out there, but too late, they were already outside.

"Give me a break..." Goten mumbled to himself, obviously whatever they had started, they planned top finish.

"I can tell you're just ecstatic to see me..." Zai said, smiling, he walked over to Trunks, grabbed him by the arm, hard, and dragging him back into the school.

"Fuck off!" Trunks yelled at him, trying to free his arm, but it was no use. If only he had let his father teach him martial arts, he hated it as a child, but regretted his decision once he met Zai, of course, his father being his father had refused to teach him now.

Soon Trunks, Zai, Goten and the lackeys found themselves by the safe, both Trunks and Goten were cornered in, frantically looking around for Pan, Bra, a fellow student, teacher even. But school was over now, everyone was gone.

"Ok, what the fuck is going on?" Trunks asked seriously pissed that he had missed his bus. He hated having to walk home, and he hating being late because then his father would have to question him.

"Don't you have any sense of fun?" Zai asked enthusiastically.

"Yes, and this is definitely not it," Trunks replied coldly.

"And what is?" Zai asked in a curios tone, then he turned to Goten. "Getting stoned every Sunday night under a bridge?"

Goten said nothing, but the shock in his face was apparent, he looked a little scared even. True it was no secret... but who would tell Zai? Why would he find out? _How_ did he find out? It was like his privacy was suddenly stripped from him.

"I have a proposition for you," Zai said after the silence had settled for a bit. The silence of the school basement was unnerving, there was always something somewhere making some kind of noise.

"What kind?" Trunks asked, Goten still too shocked to speak, or to even care about what Zai said. He could care less about Zai, both could.

Then in another unexpected move by Zai, he reached into his rugby jacket and pulled something out, he pulled out a needle. The cap still on and a yellowish liquid inside. they weren't idiots, they knew what it was.

"What the fuck?" Goten asked. "Are you stoned right now?"

Zai smiled and laughed a bit. "Maybe."

"Fuck this shit, and fuck you," Goten said and started to walk away, only, this time he couldn't sneak out.

The lackey with the hockey stick jumped out from the crowd and was on Goten, he rammed Goten against the wall with the stick nestled under his chin. The impact wasn't hard enough to break his neck, but hard enough so that Goten couldn't breathe for the next few seconds.

"Well, he doesn't want it. What about you?" Zai asked with an almost seductive smile on his face, he began to walk towards Trunks holding the needle out. "I'll be nice and only charge you $20."

"You're fucking crazy!" Trunks yelled, glancing from Zai back to the kid with the hockey stick. He was choking Goten. Choking him. "Stop this right now!"

"Then pay up," Zai said almost in a whisper, standing barely a foot away from Trunks.

(I love cliffhangers, surprisingly enough, I wasn't planning on making this one, but it just started to drag out... so I had to stop it. Pity, I really like the next scene that I'm gonna do. That's right! The Great Saiyaman comes saves the day! Oh wait... no Saiyan-Jin. Well... now who's gonna save them? No, no, I'm trying to be serious with this, really, I am. I think I've gone into the stereotypical high school setting though. I mean hell, I've never actually been to a high school with major clicks like so, and I've been to two. This one, is based on ha, based, it _is_ the first one I went to. I'm trying to give good description about it. Some things to make mention about the place, there were no cameras, and there were so many drug deals going down, it wasn't a surprised that every second week that damn dog and his police men came to school. The person I based Zai off of was from that school too, he had his little lackeys too. Well, I gotta fix this up and then post it, sayonara)


	3. First Hit

3

"CHRIST ALMIGHTY!" Zai said in frustration, but tried to hide it by adding a little laughter. "Give me 20 fucking dollars and you two can go."

"No fucking tricks?" Trunks asked, his eyes still affixed on Goten. Goten wasn't really looking at anyone, he was just trying to figure out what was going on.

"None."

Trunks began fishing through his pockets. He knew he had the money. Finally after what seemed like an eternity of waiting, he held the green bill in his hands for all to see. Zai gave a little nod to the boy with the hockey stick who had been watching Zai the whole time, and he lowered the stick so that he pressed on Goten's chest instead.

Goten coughed and sputtered, he had no clue what was going on with Trunks and them. He looked at Trunks just as he threw the money at Zai. Zai grabbed Trunks' hand, and shoved the needle into his hand.

"Take it," he ordered quietly.

"What?" Trunks asked, trying to take his hand away, but Zai held fast. Trunks could feel the needle in his palm. It made him sick. He didn't want it there or anywhere near him.

"I said, take it," Zai said and made a head motion to one of his lackeys without looking away from Trunks' angered blue eyes.

The lackey with the hockey stick backed up a bit, then with the tip of the stick, smacked Goten across the jaw, the blow sending him to the ground. The lackey grabbed Goten by the collar and then pushed him against the wall, the stick at his side waiting.

"This is fucked up," Trunks mumbled angrily, but he was getting scared. He didn't know what Zai's true intentions were, but if they led to Goten getting the shit kicked out of him, he wanted them done with.

So, Trunks curled his fingers around the needle and pried his hand free, this time Zai let go. He smiled victoriously, and Trunks almost snarled back.

Zai then put his hand back in his khakis and brought it back out holding what seemed like a brown/beige plastic piece of rope. A tourniquet.

"You'll need this," he said offering it in an almost friendly fashion, Trunks hesitated, this resulted in the hockey stick finding its way to Goten ribs.

"Are you serious?"

Zai just smiled on.

"Mother fucker," Trunks mumbled grabbing the tourniquet. He put the needle in his teeth and rolled back the sleeve to his left arm. Then he wrapped the tourniquet just above his elbow and pulled. He took the needle out of his mouth and took the cap off.

"Is this fucking needle clean?"

"Yes."

He held it up for a second, admiring the fine point of the needle, trying to ignore that it could contain his death. He pressed the back a bit, letting some of the drug out, dispersing any air that might be there.

Taking the untied end of the tourniquet and putting it in his mouth to keep it tight, he found there to be almost no circulation in his arm soon. Good. He wouldn't have to feel it. He let whatever muscles in his arms he could feel relax and then brought the needle to a bright blue vein.

"Go on," Zai said in anticipation, a smirk on his face.

Trunks pushed the needle in and closed his eyes. He could feel the heroin go into his blood stream, poisoning him, killing him. He opened his eyes and let the needle drop, his vision, his feeling, taken to a completely different plain.

He fell back against the wall. Maybe this was what it felt like to die. He felt free of everything, and yet at the same time, intertwined with all.

Zai gave a slight nod and then began to laugh like a lunatic as Trunks slowly slid down the wall and sat down, his hands holding his head between his knees. Zai put his hand up towards the boy with the hockey stick, and he let Goten go, the teen instantly dropping to the floor.

"Let's leave the love birds alone." The group looked at them one last time and then began walking away, the money safely in Zai's pocket.

Goten may have been out of it, but he sure as hell wasn't unconscious. He lifted his head and looked over to Trunks, who seemed to be in a different world completely.

"Shit... Trunks," Goten mumbled and struggled to get back to his feet, his jaw, neck and side really hurt, but he would live. Just minor bruises. He stumbled over to Trunks, using the wall for support at first, but then walking on his own.

He shook Trunks' shoulder and the boy looked up at him with the same gaze that Zai had given him that morning. Goten shuddered and then got down on one knee.

"Get up," he mumbled to Trunks, grabbing him by his shoulder and helping him up.

"They gone?" Trunks asked in a zoned out voice.

Goten nodded, but he wasn't too sure if Trunks saw. "Yeah, they're gone. You ok?" He asked, slinging Trunks' arm around his shoulder to give him some support, he didn't know how well Trunks could walk and didn't want to test their luck.

"I'm fine," Trunks mumbled, his voice came out sounding like it had been cut up. "Where are we going?"

Trunks' eyes were open to the hall with confusion and curiosity, like he had never been down that hall before. Tripping. He was tripping. Goten was sure of it. He wasn't sure what Trunks was seeing, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to know.

"I don't think... don't think we should go down that hall," Trunks mumbled pointing to the hall that led to the gyms, yes, the gyms were in the basement.

"Why not?" Goten asked as he walked past them, he felt it a good idea to keep him talking, like he had a concussion and couldn't sleep.

"Because..." Trunks said, his eyes looking down the hall as they past, like he was looking at someone, but nobody was there. His eyes then jolted back forward as they turned to the right; they were heading for the parking lot.

Goten knew they couldn't take the bus, so he was praying he would bump into somebody he knew that had a car. If only his parents had a bit more money. Goten's plans were cut short when Trunks eyes fell on the stairs that led outside.

"NO!" Trunks yelled and started struggling in his grasp. "You can't go that way!"

"Ok!" Goten shouted in annoyance and turned into down a hall into another room. Left led to the boiler room and right up another set of stairs to parking lot again. Once again Trunks started to freak out on him. "Ah shit!"

Goten backed up in the hall and set Trunks down by the wall. He didn't want to loose his temper, especially not seeing Trunks probably didn't realize what was even going on.

"Ok, listen Trunks," Goten said crouching down in front of him. "We have to go outside, ok?"

Trunks looked up into his eyes, he stared on for a second, and then suddenly whatever fear he held suddenly disappeared and he began to laugh. He was laughing so hard that tears were almost in his eyes, Goten got that much more annoyed.

"What's so funny?" He asked, glowering.

Trunks shook his head, like the joke was something Goten couldn't get and continued to laugh. Goten simply rolled his eyes and picked Trunks up again, trying to ignore his sudden immaturity. They got back into the room and Trunks didn't start yelling, but he did stop laughing whence they got to the stairs.

He just started to stare at something that wasn't there. He was watching it just in case the invisible figure attempted to lash out at them. Goten was really starting to wonder what kind of fucked up shit heroin did to your mind.

They got to the parking lot and Goten let out a relieved smile when he saw a 'dear old friend' of his, Geoff. The teen was just getting into his red Mazda. He had brown hair in a buzz cut and baby blue eyes. He wore a white wife beater and grey track pants.

"Geoff!" Goten called out, waving his free arms. Trunks was busy staring at the school, so he didn't notice what was going on.

"Hey Goten," Geoff said and waved back, half in his car and half out. "What's up? ... What the fuck happened to him?"

Goten gave a sheepish grin. "He got into some bad shit," he mumbled and Trunks suddenly got away from his grip and wandered over to the car, impressed by the colours. "Really bad shit..."

"And I suppose you want a drive," Geoff said with a smile.

"Ah... heh... yeah," Goten answered unsure of himself.

"Jump in."

The drive took about fifteen minutes, and finally the car came to a stop outside of Trunks' house. Goten had to pry him away from the window, he wondered how it could possibly be so damned fascinating.

It was like Trunks had the mentality of a three year old suddenly. Of course he knew that wasn't the case. Trunks' mind was just working differently. He was seeing shit no man or woman should see. Experiencing things that weren't real.

Heroin was a fucking lie, and he could see why people liked it so much.

He thanked Geoff for the ride and then dragged Trunks up the walkway towards his house. He hoped to Kami that nobody was home. To his relief, nobody was at the doorway, but he had no way of telling if anybody was hidden inside. Good thing the house was big...

Once inside Trunks pulled away from Goten and began walking up the stairs, acting like each new step had something on it. Who knows, maybe there was something unseen on the steps.

Finally Goten got Trunks up the stairs and into his room, Trunks got bored with his observations at that moment and decided to begin to talk.

Turning around Trunks grabbed Goten shoulders and brought his face in to look at Goten's very, very carefully.

"They hurt you didn't they? I think I see a bruise," he began rambling. "Those fuckers have no fucking clue what the fuck their fucking doing."

Goten gave a little laugh at Trunks saying 'fuck' every two words, however, he thought it may be a good idea to get Trunks to sleep now, concussion crisis over. He started walking forward, pushing Trunks backwards to his bed.

"I know I was thinking that this time I could get them for sure, but shit went the wrong way. Next time though, I'll be really ready, and then they won't stand a chance, 'cuz I'll get them next time," Trunks nodded a lot as he spoke.

Trunks legs hit the bed and he fall backwards, dragging Goten with him. Trunks fell on the bed, Goten's knees banged against the floor. Trunks sat there and Goten crouched in front of him, his grasp not lightening.

"I'm sorry I couldn't do anything sooner, I was trying to figure out how I could get out of that, but I just couldn't figure it out. I didn't know what to do. I was scared," Trunks tried to explain all his actions, but it just wasn't making sense.

"Go to sleep Trunks," Goten suggested to the boy, he finally let go of Goten's shoulders.

"I can't go to bed, I'm not tired, and I have you to watch over. You got hurt because of me you know," Trunks pointed out.

"No, I got hurt because of Zai, not you. Not your fault."

"But it feels like it is. So I gotta make it up for you, gotta make sure you're ok."

"Ok, make it up to me by sleeping."

"But I'm not tired!" Trunks protested, there was that child's mentality again.

"Look Trunks. I know you realize this, somewhere in there. You had heroin-"

"I know and-"

"And this shit fucks you up real bad. The best thing to do, I think, is to just sleep it off and forget you ever took the shit."

"I can't sleep if you're not ok."

"I'm fine!" Goten snapped at him, then smiled and laughed a bit to hide his anger. "I'm fine."

"But... well... then you can't go anywhere."

"What?"

"If I go to sleep you can't go anywhere. I have to make sure you're ok, but I'm not tired. So you have to stay here, so I can watch over you."

Goten let out a real laugh this time, only a little one. "Ya know, you act really funny when you're high off your ass."

Trunks smiled. "I don't care, stay."

"Fine, fine," Goten mumbled. "Now sleep."

"You sleep, I'm not tired," Trunks protested.

"Are you even listening to me?" Goten asked in desperation.

"Nope, nope, nope. I've got better things to do than to listen to you. There's a whole bunch of shit out there that I've never seen before. All these people at school... I think I've seen them before, but I can't be sure. They were like fat pink ones and green people with antennae. There were some purple ones..."

Goten looked at him oddly for a second. "Wow... that shit really does fuck your brain up... badly."

"Go to sleep now," Trunks said and stood up, Goten stood up with him, but then Trunks pushed him on the bed. "Sleep."

"This is insane," Goten mumbled as Trunks sat down on an arm chair in the corner of the room.

He couldn't help but close his eyes though. He was just so tired. He had taken a beating today, and it had left him in a pretty bad condition, which he had been ignoring to get Trunks back to his house.

Trunks stared at Goten for a bit, and then he began to browse around the room. It was like he had never been in that room before. Goten seemed completely different too. Everything was different, it seemed wrong, but he knew it was right. It was hard to explain.

He wasn't too sure how long he browsed around the room, as Goten slept soundlessly for once in his life. But suddenly it was dark, and he was really tired. So he got into his bed, curling up to Goten, pissed off that he was hurt because of Zai, vowing revenge on the fucker.

At the same time... he felt like something was missing as the high wore off and he fell asleep. Something was missing... he just didn't know what was. He'd figure it out... he'd figure everything out.

(That's where I wanted to end the last chapter, course, I really stretched this out. Ok, I have never taken heroin, so I don't know what the hell it does to you. I have read such books as 'Trainspotting' and 'Basketball Diaries'... so... I kinda just went off what they said happened. I didn't want to look through Trunks eyes though, because then I'd be writing gibberish and you'd have no fucking idea was going on. So, I hope that worked out well. Just a minor point, I called the twenty dollars the 'green bill' at the beginning, because it's green both here and in the States, just thought that worked nicely. Well... I've run out of things to say, and I'm getting really tired myself, so, sayonara)


	4. Perfect World

4

Goten, Trunks and Marron all walked into the house. None of them knew who owned the house, but they knew there was a party, and they had every right to be there. Especially seeing Zai never went to these.

It was funny to think that there were only three months of schools left, so that meant this could be their last party before University. Of course they wanted to enjoy it.

Trunks got to the table holding all the beer and liquor as fast as he could, Goten was right by his side. Trunks quickly picked up a bottle of beer and opened it.

"Designated driver," Goten mumbled taking the bottle from Trunks as he was about to drink.

"Oh c'mon," Trunks pleaded. "I can at least have one."

"No," Goten said, now drinking the bottle with a little grin. "You lost fair and square."

"I did not! Marron wasn't even playing, she's never been designated driver before..." Trunks grumbled to himself.

"She can't drive."

"So?"

"So it'd be like you driving drunk."

"No, it'd be a bit better than that," Trunks said trying to grab the bottle back from Trunks, Goten was laughing despite himself.

"Trunks! Cut it out!" He said turning his back to him as Trunks continued to try and get the bottle.

Marron then walked over to them, shaking her head with disapproval. "You guys are so immature," she said and took a bottle off the table. Then she walked off to go talk to some other friends.

"Hear that, you're immature Trunks. Now cut it out."

"_We're_ immature! _We_!" Trunks said laughing just as much as Goten now. He soon gave up on the beer though and went on the great Doritos quest.

The two were soon sitting on a couch, people talked all around them, music played in the background. Goten was on his second beer, and Trunks had a bag of Doritos and a bowl of salsa in one hand.

"Salsa shark. 'We're gonna need a bigger boat!'." Trunks began to chant as he put a chip in the salsa moving it around like it was a shark. "Man goes into cage, cage goes into salsa. Sharks in the salsa. Our shark."

Goten was ignoring him though, he was ignoring the music, the continual chatter, and was concentrating on one thing, Marron. He wasn't too sure why. Sure, he'd had his share of crushes on the girl, why not? She was beautiful, nice, sweet, wonderful.

Suddenly Marron was staring back at him. The two felt like they weren't in the room anymore. They were in their own world, staring at each other, buzzed, might I add.

Trunks didn't notice any of this as he hummed along with the music and ate his Doritos. He didn't really notice when Goten got up either, figuring he was off to get another beer.

Goten walked out of the room, past the people and over to the beer table, he got another beer, and then Marron was at his side, also getting more alcohol provisions. The two danced then, in the living room that had be claimed as a dance floor.

They were silent as they danced, being led by a force that was not his own. When they stopped dancing, they drank beer after beer just talking to each other in some room, they weren't too sure where. Soon their hands were intertwined, then their lips, and soon bodies.

They were drunk, but they thought they knew what they were doing.

_None is just where one pretends and wanders._

_Counting for a Perfect World to mind us._

Goten's eyes quickly opened as he remembered the night ever so vividly in his head. If he could go back in time, would he do anything different? He wasn't too sure. He felt something with Marron that he felt with no other person. Maybe he had done the right thing.

It was then when Goten remembered that he wasn't at home. He sat up in the bed and looked outside, it was very dark. His head went around the room until he found a clock.

12:46 AM.

"Oh shit," Goten mumbled and tried to get out of bed, he almost tripped over Trunks, not noticing him there. "Shit!"

His mom was going to kill him. His mom would disembowel him. Trunks slept through all of this somehow. Goten picked up the phone and dialled the memorized seven digits. It was answered before the second ring.

"Hello?" Came Chichi's voice, she sound distressed.

"Uh... hello... mom?"

"GOTEN! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU! WHY DIDN'T YOU PHONE!" Then Chichi began to rethink things. "Are you hurt? Is Trunks hurt or something? I'm sure Bulma would have phoned me. What's going on!"

"Mom, mom, calm down-"

"I will not calm down! You had me worried sick!"

"Listen, Trunks got a little sick at school and I took him home. I must have fallen asleep," Goten said as fast as one could, it sounded like loud gibberish, but Chichi managed to catch it all.

"You are in big trouble mister! It's ok that you took care of Trunks, but next time phone! Now get home right away!" Then the phone line went dead. Goten looked like he had been given the death sentence, and in his mind, he had.

"I'm gonna die," he muttered and began walking towards the door, then he remembered Trunks. Could he just leave him like that? He looked back at the teen, curled up in his bed. He seemed fine... maybe he wouldn't care.

In an almost executive decision, Goten opened the door and walked out. Wouldn't take too long to get home on foot, maybe fifteen minutes. Goten ran for good measure though, and got home in about ten.

Chichi was waiting right by the door, Goku beside her trying to doze off. The second Goten walked in Chichi began to yell at him. That woke Goku up. The two men looked very scared, even though all the anger was directed at only one of them.

She spoke so fast. The only word Goten caught was 'grounded'. Grounded, and apparently for the rest of this week, and then the weekend. Beautiful, just damn beautiful. Goten figured she was being lenient for helping Trunks though. He should be thankful!

By 1:30, all the Sons of the household were in bed, trying to reclaim precious sleep. Not Goten, he was fully awake. He kept thinking about Marron, Trunks, Zai, sometimes even Paresu. School was another big issue on his mind.

Then at 7:30AM, on the dot, he got the usual phone call from Trunks. He'd pick him up in a few minutes, car was back from the shop. Goten put his thoughts away and walked over to his driveway where he waited for Trunks.

He finally decided that everything would be fine.

He knew them by face and reputation only. Except Geoff, he knew Geoff. Everyone knew Geoff... he was the guy at school who was everyone's best friend. But, Geoff wasn't who he was looking for. There were six of them sitting by the fence. Four of them were smoking.

In the group was a boy and girl, the school's resident Goths. She had reddish hair down to her back and wore lacy black things, a long black shirt, no makeup. He had black hair down to his shoulders and wore an army trench and combat boots. The first two Goths ever at K.C.V.I., more followed of course, like his sister.

There was a boy with short brown curly hair. He looked like the boy next door. Beside him was the teen he was looking for. He had short blond spiky hair, wore baggy blue jeans, chains and all, and a baggy brown shirt with the logo for 'Krap' on it... cute. His face was almost chipmunk like, that's how he got his nickname. 'Chipmunk'.

Then Geoff and a boy with long blond hair were skateboarding beside them, he didn't pay much attention to them though. He wanted to talk with 'Chipmunk'.

The four sitting stared at Trunks in curiosity and in a bit of confusion as he walked towards them. They knew his face, knew his reputation with Zai, but didn't know why the hell he would want to talk with them.

"Hello," the girl Goth said as he approached them, she threw down her cigarette as she said this.

"Hi... uh..." Trunks stumbled over his words. He didn't know what to say. He knew what he was about to ask was wrong, but he had to. He just had too. He couldn't decide why, but his insides were just pushing him over to the group. So he lost Goten and Marron at the beginning of lunch, and here he was.

"Can we help you?" Chipmunk asked, taking a puff of his cigarette, he was annoyed with Trunks already and the guy hadn't even gotten to the point.

"I need to ask you something," Trunks said pointing to Chipmunk. Chipmunk looked shocked enough, he looked around to see if maybe he was mistaken, and then he smiled.

"Ah... I see," He pulled himself off the ground by using the fence and began to walk away. Before Trunks could follow him though, the boy-next-door grabbed him by the arm.

"What is it?" He asked whispering in his ear.

"What?" Trunks asked, confused, watching as Chipmunk walked away.

"Who cares what it is... don't do it anymore," he warned, but Trunks ignored him and by pushing his hand off his arm, he began to follow Chipmunk.

"What do you want?" He asked throwing his cigarette to the ground and lighting another immediately. "I got cigarettes, weed, acid, speed-"

"Heroin."

"Ah," he said with a wide smile. "We're playing with the big boys now. Be honest, have you ever before? You don't look like you have..."

Trunks said nothing, beginning to feel uncomfortable. He knew what he was doing was wrong... he knew what he was doing was wrong... but it felt right. Just once more, that's all he asked, then never again. He promised.

"Ok, ok," Chipmunk said and threw his unfinished smoke to the ground. Then he grabbed Trunks shirt and pulled him close, not in a violent of threatening way, but simply so Trunks could hear him whisper. "I have none, but, you know the church on Princess?"

The church on Princess St., everyone knew that church. It wasn't fairly big, but was big enough to notice. It had many trees around it, so as you walked downtown and went past it, it was almost like going into another city, or another time. Trunks nodded.

"They have everything," he said with a mischievous smile. "Everything. Tell them Cody sent you, and they probably won't rip you off so bad."

"Cody's your name?"

"Nah, it's her name," Cody said in a sarcastic voice as he pointed to his female Goth companion. "Look, I gotta go. Bye."

Then Cody ran back to his friends who were getting up to go to the convenience store. Trunks stood there for a few seconds, not too sure what to do. Should he go to the church? He could go after school... nobody would have to know...

He made up his mind then, he'd go. But only once, never again after that.

Goten and Marron sat by Lake Ontario watching the birds, boats, people, whatever, not saying a word. School was over for the day, Trunks ditching them yet again, but they tried not to think too much about the matter.

It was kind of weird though, for the past two weeks Trunks just wouldn't be there to meet them after school, so he found himself taking the bus home. However, he got a drive in the mornings and Trunks ate lunch with them. But, he shouldn't think too much about it. Right now, he had more pressing matters.

His mother had brought it up with him in the first place, and then he went down the street and talked it over with his brother. His father was nowhere to be seen, so he couldn't ask him for advice. He asked Trunks too... but Trunks was acting odd.

"Well... ya know... do what you gotta do... but... ya know... don't do it if ya don't want to, or if... ya know... can't... or something..."

Trunks was truly acting strange, but... ugh! He shouldn't be thinking about that! He should be thinking about Marron, she's pregnant with his child, not Trunks. Course, the mental image flashed through his mind and he found himself smiling.

"What's so funny?" Marron asked, breaking the lingering silence.

"Oh nothing... I was just thinking of something..." Goten replied, shaking his head, still smiling as he leaned back.

"Oh... Ok..."

Goten cleared his through and his face turned serious. Now was as good as any time, if not better because the lake was rather romantic. So, he turned and looked over to Marron, who still looked out at the lake and he got her attention.

"Euh... Marron?"

"Yeah?" Marron asked, turning to her side to look at him.

"I was doing a lot of thinking... and talking... and stuff. Mostly about the baby and all," Marron smiled a bit, blushed some too, but looked on with curiosity and confusion. "And well, my mom and brother thinks it's a good idea... good for the baby."

"What is?"

"And of course, don't think I would wanna do this because they said I should, I was thinking, and realized I wanted to do this... and... euh..."

"You lost me..."

"Marron," Goten took her hand, and did the ever so traditional thing of going down on one knee (or in his case getting up and then back down on one knee), Marron's eyes went wide. "Will you marry me?" Goten asked, his head looking down a bit in embarrassment, Marron just stared on shocked, then her smile returned and she leaned over.

Her lips just touching his ear, her warm breath caressing his cheeks, he didn't know how to react, so Goten did nothing and waited. Finally the answer came.

"Yes."

They both smiled, and then Goten was on his feet, pulling Marron up with him. He hugged her, not wanting to let go, he was just so happy. Funny, he used to dread this day... but it just felt so great. He was happy. Everything was perfect.

"_One can be a words that counts as lonely."_

Trunks sat in his room staring at the wall. His skin was a lot paler than before, his eyes almost red. Bags hung under his eyes like a dark reminder. He was also getting a lot thinner. All of this, however, Trunks didn't notice.

"_Two can be as lonely as each can be."_

He stared at the wall in pain though. He wanted to cry, wanted to jump up, scream, rant, pull his hair out. Or, hurt Zai. He didn't get it at first, and didn't really get it now. But... he, Zai, did this. He was addicted.

"_Searching and pretending, as we wandering through this world."_

Was that what Zai wanted to do? Was that his way of truly hurting him? He didn't have to talk to Cody, he didn't have to go to the church. In all reality, he didn't have to take the needle in the first place, yet, he had.

"_Can we ever know?"_

No matter how much he tried though, he couldn't blame it on Zai. He couldn't blame it on Goten, on anybody. He could just sit on his bed, wait for tomorrow, wait for school… for his next hit… wait.

"_Where hearts go?"_

(Yeah, Trunks was singing in that last scene. The song is 'Perfect World', can't for the life of me tell you who wrote it, but it's on 'lovers only', Esca Soundtrack. Anyhoo, thought it went well with my little Fic. And here it is, I skipped about two weeks. I have to skip time frames because this will be over 8 months and I don't wanna shove every little detail in there about their daily lives, just the important shit! Next chapter, I will skip about a month or two, straight to the wedding! YAY! Ya know the sad thing about Trunks being addicted to heroin: he can afford it. Well, you know, money wise. They're about mid-May right? A month and a half left in school... so I'll make the wedding in the summer. Dum dee dum... why'm I discussing time frames with you people? I doubt you care... Anyhoo, thanks for reading, got 10 reviews, a lot more than I expected especially seeing there are no 'powers' and it involves drugs... I'm so lucky you people didn't ostracize me right away. Well, sayonara!)


	5. Wedding Day

5

Trunks looked down at his arm in the pale blue light and sniffed. He wasn't crying, really, maybe he had a cold or something. Clenched tightly in his right hand was a needle, his left arm fell almost limp at his side.

He was sitting on the counter top in a washroom at some club. He, Goten's brother Gohan and Goten were here for is bachelor party. In two weeks the unthinkable was happening, Goten and Marron were getting married, and he was the best man.

The three got there, and after about five beers Trunks ran off to the bathroom. He could handle heroin better, nobody would notice… Not that anybody ever had noticed yet anyway. Was he really so ignored? Trunks almost laughed of the thought of someone walking in now and finally figuring it out after about two and a half months.

Then again, they'd probably not see the needle and just start talking away.

The blue light was something else to laugh at. People put them in here so that heroin users, like him, wouldn't be able to find their veins. Obviously this club was too cheap to actually get a blue light that hid your vein, he could see his just fine.

So school was finally over. He had a choice with pretty much any University. His parents had the money and he had the marks (80 - 90 in all subjects). Marron would take time off, have the kid, raise it a bit, and then go to College. She had good marks.

Goten was another story completely. His marks weren't great, but he had still gotten into College. Him and Marron would probably go to the same one. It was sweet in that sickening sense.

He looked to the clock with bleary eyes and figured he should go back in; he had been in there for about fifteen minutes. Time flies when you're having fun.

With a quick jump off the counter, and a not so graceful landing, Trunks pocketed his tourniquet, threw his needle out and got out of the door with an almost impressive speed for such an inebriated person.

It was the lights that hit him first, they were bright, consuming, swirling all around. Then came the music, it sounded too loud, and yet cut off from everything. People brushed up against him, but he barely felt them. He kept focusing on the sitting figure, Goten.

_Three is ever perfect just as clear minds._

Goten and Gohan sat there drinking, telling jokes probably, they were laughing. Having a great time. Trunks felt like crying right then. Why could they be so fucking happy when he was standing mere feet away from them rotting away?

"Trunks! What took you so long?" The voice came and it took Trunks a few seconds to realize it was directed at him, he looked over at Gohan, who was smiling at him. Trunks took the few more steps and sat down.

_Four till nine is given to one who finds._

"Uh... line up..." He mumbled out, his head going back to look at the lights.

"You ok man?" Goten asked with only mild concern, he was on his fifth beer.

_Searching and pretending we'll never know._

"Fine... fine..." Trunks smiled a bit, then he began to laugh, just a small laugh. He wanted to get up on his feet, point to his best friend accusingly and shout: 'Look at me asshole! Look what you've done! I'm dying!'. Trunks just sat there, sat there softly laughing though. Let him figure it out for himself.

The world danced for him, the lights were going berserk, the music was drifting away, and he couldn't see anything but the lights and he couldn't hear anything after a while. Soon all was black, when Trunks would wake up, he would realize he had almost overdosed.

_Can't we say hello?_

They took Trunks home. They were both fairly drunk; they called a cab, dragged Trunks in and took him home.

"Probably had too much beer," someone remarked in the car. Trunks had had a lot of beer and a bit of heroin. The two hadn't mixed so well.

Luckily he didn't have to go to the hospital, or else he would have died lying in his bed that night as everyone slept, not noticing, maybe even not caring. His mom would care, Goten might. Would his sister? His dad? Maybe...

Goten was getting married tomorrow. Trunks hadn't started to write the speech until he had regained consciousness that morning. And it still wasn't going to well. His heart wasn't in it and his health was definitely not in it.

"I've known Goten forever..."

No. He had been born first... so that wasn't true. That and they haven't been alive forever.

Was he getting too literal?

"I've been with Goten through everything, over and under the bridge, huh?"

No. Definitely no. If anybody laughed, it would only be him, Goten and Marron. Then everyone would inquire about the matter and Goten was horrible with lies and cover stories. So, that was too personal.

And had they been through everything together? Was Goten addicted to heroin? Was he addicted to anything? Weed wasn't addictive... wonder if Goten is there under the bridge right now...

"Goten is my best friend."

Trunks stared at that for a few seconds. Was he? He was spending all his time with Marron, barely even talking to him. He couldn't even notice something as blunt as him taking drugs. Also, next year they might not even see each other that often.

He'd miss him...

"I never thought Goten would get married."

True.

"I certainly didn't expect him to get married to Marron..."

Never expected him to get her pregnant either. Never wanted school to end. Never expected to take drugs.

"I can't write speeches!" Trunks yelled, grabbing all his little notes and throwing them into the trashcan. Enough, he needed a hit and needed it bad. This was just too much.

Goten looked down at his watch. 4:00 p.m. The wedding has officially started. Trunks was not there. At least he was, at least Marron was. All the guests, including Trunks' parents were there. So the wedding had started... but no best man.

He expected him to run into the church at any minute, like in 'Four Weddings And A Funeral', spraying curses and apologies then taking the place beside him. They'd laugh about it at the reception.

Traffic jam or the car broke down or woke up late or forgot what time it was. Maybe he had gotten the wrong time or the wrong address... He couldn't find his suit?

Goten had to stop thinking then as Marron took her spot by his side. They smiled and suddenly all his bad thoughts were swept away... for a while.

"_Do we still just look to counting?"_

Trunks was lying down on his bed looking up at the ceiling, nothing very exciting, just white paint. It was kinda bumpy... but nothing truly exciting. Didn't really matter to him, anything could have been exciting at that point.

He didn't know what time it was, had no clue what date it was, but he knew that Goten was getting married. Was that happening now? He couldn't tell. Time conception was taken away from you at times like this...

The rings, they had the rings. Trunks was supposed to have them, but he never took hold of them, so Goten had them in his pocket. When the minister asked for the rings, he panicked for a second, and then he realized that he still had them.

Why hadn't Trunks taken them anyway? It was good that he hadn't... but had he originally not intended to come?

"_Until we face each mountain."_

Should he be at the wedding...?

The thought came as the heroin wore off. He could say that his car broke down or something if he was late, all would be forgiven. He sat up, and looked around. He spotted the clock then. The numbers were bright, melded together; it took a minute to read the time.

4:28 p.m.

He lay back down. He wouldn't go. For all he knew the wedding wasn't even today...

Goten took one last look around the church hall. Nobody had come in late... everyone was watching in expectation. Trunks being missing was forgotten. The ceremony had come to an end. Only one thing left to do.

He closed his eyes, tried desperately to forget about Trunks and leaned in kissing Marron.

"_Worlds make such a part with love."_

He wondered what would have happened if he hadn't taken the needle. Would life be better or worse? He needed the heroin, not just because he was addicted... but also because he needed a release.

Or maybe he just needed to see. He just needed to see the truth about Goten. Why hadn't he noticed? Because he doesn't pay attention to him. Why doesn't he pay attention?

Because Goten doesn't care about him.

Goten took the glass of Champaign and chugged it as fast as he could. Trunks wasn't there, nobody picked up the phone at home. Worst, speeches were about to begin. He couldn't stop watching the door, or for someone to call, for Trunks to call.

Marron said not to worry, his parents said not to worry, his brother said not to worry. Everyone there said not to worry. How could he not?

You see, the question wasn't just had something happened to Trunks, it was also: Did Trunks purposely not come? He didn't take the rings after all...

"_For we know all what accounts."_

Rather than get up and do something, Trunks found himself just lying there, even after he became sober again. He was jumping to conclusions; he had to figure them out.

Goten couldn't not like him. They were best friends. Or they had hung out for a long time anyway. They knew each in and out mostly. There were always things too personal to share.

He just wasn't paying attention because he was too busy taking care of Marron. Making plans for his future, for his kid. All Trunks had to do was be patient... Goten would come around. He always did.

"Hey Marron," Goten said after all the speeches were done and people were dancing, eating and mingling.

"Yeah?" Marron asked, looking up lovingly. She looked so beautiful in a wedding dress he didn't want to leave her side.

"I've got to go somewhere," he said dumbly, and then added quickly, "I'll be back in, like, an hour at most."

"Where are you going?" She asked, rather suspicious.

"Nowhere important..."

"You're going to go check on Trunks, aren't you?" Goten said nothing but nodded in reply, she sighed. "You have an hour... then I'm going after you. I will not be left alone on my wedding night."

"Don't worry. I wouldn't abandon you," he said in an almost jokingly way. She smiled and he ran out of the room, out of the church, going straight for his car.

"_Just show, just announce."_

There was a knock at the door. Trunks barely heard it. He'd been awake for a bit now, had taken another hit. Twice in one day... definitely a bad day. Struggling to his feet he managed to get out of the door and down the stairs, only took five minutes.

"Yeah?" Trunks opened the door wincing at the fading light. He hadn't seen the sun in a while... not since school got out. When he did go out, the sun would have already set by that time.

Before he could see who was standing there, he was being punched, right in the nose. Trunks fell back, slamming against the wall. He panicked, thinking someone was robbing the house or something.

The person grabbed his shirt collar and brought him forward.

"You asshole!" The voice came, hurt, angry... recognizable. Goten.

"Wha-?"

"Do you know what fucking day it is! Do you!"

Trunks looked him up and down, ignoring his bleeding nose. Goten was angry, almost looked worried, but mostly angry. He knew what he had done... and didn't know what to say.

"Well!"

What day was it? Did he want the date? Or for him to say it was his wedding day... he would have said something... but he just couldn't. His mouth just gapped open and closed in a state of shock.

"My wedding day! It's my wedding! I got married, to Marron; you were _supposed_ to be the best man!"

"I..." Trunks' eyes were wide, almost in fear. He couldn't talk... his mind was going crazy. What could he do? What the fuck could he do!

Goten let go of him and he stumbled back over to the wall. He then sat down slowly on the stairs holding his head in his hands.

"Why didn't you come?" He asked quietly looking down at the floor as he talked.

Trunks didn't answer, just kept staring, his mouth still open, eyes still wide, heart frantic. There was nothing he could say...

Goten gave him a few minutes to answer, then he looked back up at him, eyes teary, face twisted into that of a truly miserable man. It was wrong for him to be miserable... he just got married. Trunks said nothing; so Goten just got up and left.

"Don't go..." Trunks finally managed to whisper as the car pulled out of the driveway. "Don't..." His eyes were burning. He was going to cry. "I'm sorry! Fuck it come back!" Trunks got up, ignoring his pains, his high, and his dread. He ran down the driveway.

The car was gone.

By nightfall, so was Trunks.

(This came out much earlier than I thought, must have been the help from Banky he finally forgave me after I pulled that "Slipknot" incident Banky: That was you! Me: So anyway…. Sorry I've taken so long to write… anything. But it's summer and I'm volunteering at a kid's day camp, so if I write it's pretty much for myself. However, I got this sudden burst of inspiration, so I wrote this chapter. I've been planning it for some time, the next chapter more so though. Again with the Trunks singing, by the by, the writer of the song is Yokko Kann, sorry I forgot the name before. Hey, I finally named the Fic as well, I was searching and searching for a title, and then figured the best one for it was the name of the song "Perfect World". It works so well because everyone thinks the world is 'perfect', and then you have Trunks there who is not having a good time at all so it makes you wonder about everyone else false delusions about the world being 'perfect. Ok then, my work here is done. Banky: I hate you all! Me: Shut up! I swear, I shouldn't let you work with me… tracer… Banky: INKER!)


	6. Another Hit

6

Trunks walked down Princess Street in a Trance like none other before. It was raining, yet he didn't feel it. He didn't hear it. He could barely see it. Everything blurred together in a blob of colour and lights. He couldn't tell if it was day or night, he couldn't tell if he was awake or sleeping, alive or dead. He was still wearing the black blouse and jeans from when he left the house. He was soaked to the bone now.

When his vision started to clear out he wasn't walking anymore. He was standing on the lawn of the church of Princess… the rain was deafening loud and it stung as it hit his cheeks. He hadn't had a hit since the fight… four days ago. No wonder he was so out of it. So had it been his subconscious bringing him here? Because he needed another hit? He felt like he was going to die…

"Trunks?"

The voice pierced his ears and Trunks looked straight ahead of him, he gave up focusing on the black blur that swam before his eyes. A person's shape started to form, a man's shape, and one that he knew all too well…

"Zai…" He said the name so silently that Zai wasn't too sure he had even said it.

Zai wasn't wearing his usual attire; he had on a black wind-resistor with the hood up. It covered his hair that was growing out. He was also wearing some dark green cargo pants that were in some pretty bad shape. And he almost mirrored Trunks in the way that he was so skinny, but at least he had some colour left in his skin. His eyes though… his eyes were as red, if not redder than, Trunks'.

"Jesus Christ man… I don't think I've ever seen you so fucked…" Zai exclaimed with a small smile on his face, but his eyes showed the worry he felt deep down inside.

"You…" Trunks could feel his knees giving way. "You… did…" He wanted to accuse him, wanted to hurt him, he wanted things to go back to the way they had been with Goten and him. If Goten wasn't around to blame for the destruction of his happiness, then Zai would do.

Trunks passed out before anything could be done, and Zai managed to grab a hold of the teen. Zai eased Trunks down so that he was lying on the grass. He knelt down beside him and hovered his hand over Trunks' mouth. He was breathing.

"People are looking for you. You ran away about four days ago… Because your boyfriend got married…?" Zai trailed off and brushed some of Trunks' hair away from his face. He was so thin, so pale, so obviously addicted to heroin. Zai didn't know whether or not he should have felt guilty. "Something tells me that you don't wanna go home… so I'm gonna do you a favour."

Zai smiled.

"A really big favour…"

Goten was walking down Princess Street. His emotions were in the kind of turmoil that they weren't normally in, the kind of turmoil that he avoided by smoking a joint every week. He was out of joints though, and no drug could make him feel better right now. His best friend was missing. He felt more than responsible. Maybe had he not gotten so upset with Trunks? Hell, Trunks had to have an excuse for his behaviour somewhere. He just hadn't listened.

When he found out Trunks was gone he had almost lost it. He drove over to Gohan's house wanting to yell at his brother, just to vent his frustration. And then he got there, and could only cry, because he felt so bad. He felt lost. He felt guilty. Not to say he was totally in the wrong… but a part of him was there. That was just as bad.

Gohan hadn't been too supportive seeing he couldn't exactly make everything better between Trunks and him. So after lunch he went back to Marron and his new apartment, and he just started talking. Then it hit him, he had no fucking clue what had happened between Trunks and him, because he had been paying attention solely to Marron.

Maybe that was it… maybe Trunks was jealous.

"Are you Goten Son?" A man's voice came from behind Goten and he slowly turned around to come face to face with school legend, Chipmunk. He was wearing his grey hoodie and black baggy jeans with a huge grin on your face.

"Yeah…" Goten replied with confusion written over his face. Sure, he knew this guy, but he had never actually talked to him before.

"Thought so, you know your boyfriend?"

Goten tried not to get annoyed, so even after High School that would haunt Trunks and him? "Trunks?"

"That'd be him!" Chipmunk said as he poked Goten playfully.

"What about him then?"

"Well seeing you know him so well, and he just went off with Zai. I figured you could deliver a package to him for me."

Goten blinked. "What?"

"I'm sure you don't mind, being a man of weed and all."

"No! About Zai!" Goten said getting excited that he had a lead… even if it sounded insane.

"He went off with Zai."

"Are you sure?"

"Hell yeah, the dude fucking passed out over there, Zai stayed with him until he woke up and the two left. Kinda sweet actually… in that… kinda way."

"Jesus Christ!" Goten then turned around and started running towards the root he had taken many times, to get to Paresu's house, Zai's house.

"Hey dude! What about the heroin?"

Goten stopped dead in his tracks.

"Trunks…" The voice filtered in his head and then quickly left. "Trunks." It was louder now. He felt like shit… why was he being waken up again? "C'mon Trunks… wake up."

His eyes slowly came open, but just remained as mere slits to block out the light that was on above his head. Where the fuck was he?

"Trunks." Now someone was kind of slapping his face, he rolled his head to one side and found Zai crouching by the bed. His face was so close to his he almost screamed from being startled. But he was too out of it to scream. "Good morning."

"Zai…?" Trunks asked in a groggy voice.

"The one and only."

"I've… I've gotta go…" Trunks started to sit up when he felt Zai grab his wrist. He looked back and saw Zai grinning there and then he looked to what he was holding in his other hand.

A needle.

He didn't want to stay there. He didn't even know what he was doing there. He couldn't stand Zai. He didn't even trust him. However, looking at the needle all that was suddenly forgotten and Zai was suddenly his best friend.

Zai couldn't help but chuckle as Trunks' eyes concentrating on the needle. Then he felt kind of bad, the poor guy was just beginning his withdrawal… wait a few days and he could probably really use that to his advantage. But hey, he wasn't a complete asshole. So Zai lifted the arm he was holding and started pulling back the sleeve.

Trunks almost looked scared.

"You want?" Zai asked, curious to the reaction of fear, Trunks slowly nodded. "Ok."

He put the needle in his mouth and grabbed a piece of rope near the bed, he tied it around Trunks' forearm and slapped his vein once or twice to make sure the circulation was going. And then he injected Trunks.

Trunks wasn't thinking properly that day, the addiction had gotten out of hand a long time ago, and it was here when he realized that he was addicted. But he didn't care, because it just felt so good. He could even care less that he was getting a hit from his arch nemesis. He fell back on the bed as Zai took the needle out, he just wanted to lie there… never move again. Never think about Goten or Marron or his family again. Just lie there, like he was dead, but still living.

He could feel Zai's hand on his stomach then, he only barely noticed really. Only barely realized that Zai was unbuttoning his shirt. In truth, he didn't care. He was happy right now, so fuck the rest of the world.

"Goten?" Paresu said in bewilderment as Goten stepped into the house. "What do you want?"

Goten was truly trying to regain his wits. Trunks did heroin. Things made a hell of a lot more sense now. He knew why Trunks did heroin too, because Trunks had to save his sorry ass. He felt like killing himself at the moment, but instead he decided to get Trunks back home first. Trunks could get help, things would work out.

"Is…" He took a deep breath. "Is your brother here?"

"Zai?" Paresu asked, shocked, she almost looked disappointed. She had never known why she liked Goten in the first place, but she had never gotten over him either way. She knew about the wedding… she was just kind of hoping…

"Yes, Zai."

"Yeah… he's in his room. But he's with a friend or something…"

"Trunks."

"Huh?" Paresu looked shocked again.

"He has Trunks in his room. Where is his room?"

"His room is upstairs… the attic."

Goten suddenly got the worse feeling in the pit of his stomach and he found himself running to the stairs. He seemed to move in slow motion as he opened the door that hid the stairs leading up to the attic. Paresu watched on, confused as to what was happening. Goten was at the top of the stairs then, and he didn't know what to say.

Trunks was lying there, his shirt half off, he looked like he was asleep, only his eyes were open. And there was Zai, almost lying on top of him. Goten almost choked on the air he was breathing.

"What… the fuck… are you doing?" Goten asked, his voice was low and anything but pleased. He sounded like he wanted to kill someone, no, not someone, Zai.

Zai looked over to the stairs. "Well fuck me," he looked back at Trunks. "Look Trunks, it's your boyfriend."

"Get off of him!"

"Whoa, I don't hear him complaining."

Goten had to use every once of will power to not kill Zai as he took another look at Trunks and then shot a glance that could kill over Zai's way.

"Because he's stoned off his fucking ass!"

"I didn't hear him complain about that either…" Zai mumbled as he stared back down at Trunks, brushing his hair aside.

"YOU BASTARD!" Goten ran forward and grabbed Zai, literally dragging him off the bed and onto the floor where he started kicking him. "YOU MOTHER FUCKING BASTARD!"

"Goten!" Paresu yelled from the top of the stairs.

"This is none of your business Paresu!" He yelled back at her. Then he looked down at Zai who was bruised and bleeding and definitely not getting up. He wanted to kill him, he wanted to kill him so badly, but he couldn't, because Trunks distracted him.

"Goten…" Trunks mumbled out, his eyes were on him now. His right arm was twitching a bit as if he were trying to reach out at him. "I'm sorry… I… I didn't mean to… not go…"

"Trunks…" Goten went over to his side and took his hand. "Are you ok? Did he hurt you?"

Trunks shook his head to the best of his efforts. "I didn't care… didn't care about… anything… just wanted to die…"

Goten shook his head. "No, no, no, not you." He looked over his best friend again, it wasn't just his right arm twitching anymore, his limps were twitching… like he was dying. "Jesus Christ…"

"I'm… sorry…" Trunks whispered out again and closed his eyes.

"Trunks wake up!" Goten looked over at Paresu. "Phone 911!"

Paresu nodded and ran downstairs.

"Trunks!" Goten yelled and Trunks' eyes opened.

Trunks didn't have any time or strength to protest and Goten grabbed him by the shoulders and started lifting him up. He had to get him to stay awake… or better yet, he himself had to get away from Zai before he killed him, and he wasn't about to leave Trunks alone there.

Goten got Trunks on his feet, Trunks was barely conscious, Goten had his arms tightly wrapped around him so that he didn't fall.

"C'mon Trunks, walk." He whispered into his friend's ear as he glared at Zai who was watching with sad eyes.

Trunks attempted to walk, but he just felt so weak. He felt so tired… he just wanted to go to sleep. They were by the stairs, he felt so cold, and he just let his head fall back. It was like he had no more control; over his own body… he had no control over his body. He couldn't move.

"Trunks… Trunks!" Goten yelled as Trunks went limp in his arms. "Shit Trunks!

"Sorry…"

Goten was trying to find his balance so he put his foot back, but he felt nothing there. He could only curse as he felt his feet go from underneath him and he started to fall. He hadn't been thinking properly since Chipmunk… he just couldn't leave Trunks by himself though, not with Zai. And then he was falling. Goten held onto Trunks as hard as he could, one hand was on Trunks' head.

It hurt, it really, really fucking hurt falling down a flight of stairs, the only good thing that came out of it was the fact that because he was hurt so much, Trunks seemed to be fine… from the fall at least.

Trunks was lying on the kitchen floor and Goten looked at him with fear in his eyes. Goten had blood coming out of his mouth, he couldn't move his left arm, and his entire body hurt, but that didn't scare him, that didn't even worry him compared to the fact that when he looked down at Trunks, he saw that his lips were blue.

"No way… no fucking way!" Goten yelled as Paresu came back into the room, so did Zai, but Goten didn't notice either of them. "TRUNKS!"

He knew CPR… a bit. He put his ear over Trunks' mouth, he wasn't breathing. He did mouth to mouth, but he didn't know if it helped or not. He didn't know how long he was doing it for, but suddenly someone was pulling him away from Trunks. He was kicking, screaming in protest, but they dragged him away. Then he saw the Meds run in and he relaxed, stopped moving as they got Trunks on the stretcher and started opening needles and shit that Goten had no idea did what. Then the Med that was holding him let him go and Goten got back onto his feet where he came face to face with Zai.

"Goten… I…"

Zai didn't have time to talk before Goten started punching him.

Goten sat in the lobby of the police station completely out of it. It took five men, _five_ men to pry Goten off of Zai before he could kill him. Then they put him in cuffs and drove him down to the station. Zai was arrested too (and then rushed to the hospital), but with an actual charge. Possession of an illegal substance and for attempting to rape Trunks, Paresu told them everything. Goten was only at the police station because they had nowhere else to put him.

He was fairly injured from the fall; nobody really wanted to bug him about it though. The bleeding had stopped, and as far as the police could tell from him punching Zai, his arm was only seriously bruised. ("No man with a broken arm could do that…")

He only vaguely noticed as Chichi ran in, with Goku and Gohan hot on his heels. Chichi was on her knees before him, shaking him, yelling at him, hugging him. He did nothing. He just kept staring. Suddenly Gohan was staring right back at him, and he felt the tears just start to fall down his cheeks.

He didn't know if Trunks was alive or not, but he knew that Zai was. Two very bad things

(When I first though out that chapter, Goten wasn't going to get so violent, probably because in the original Zai wasn't really trying to rape him (he was also gonna be high off his ass as well though) and I don't think Paresu was supposed to be there, but ya know, when I write my mind takes over and I have no say. But wow… that was pretty intense. This is what happens when Elise doesn't sleep for the entire night because she has a cold and is watching DBZ Music Videos. My neck hurts… owie… Oh man, the more I wrote this chapter the more I put myself in Goten's head. Zai is a very lucky creation that he's not dead right now… I'm sure all you people out there don't like him very much now do you? Come to think about it… I don't think you ever liked him. I do think that that is the last we'll see of our dear little Zai and his # sister Paresu. Ok… I should edit this and post it, no?)


	7. Moving In

(Stay tuned afterwards for a 'Special Addition')

7

"Trunks?" The voice sounded worried and muffled. Like it was coming from a mile away, but being said right next to him. It took Trunks a while to realize that the voice _was_ coming from right next to him. "I came by to see if you're all right…"

Fighting through the debris in his head and cobwebs that seemed to have been made in his eyes while he was asleep, Trunks slowly opened his eyes and saw Marron sitting next to him. She was smiling in that kind way of hers, but her eyes still looked horridly sad and distant.

_If we add the fractions_

_To the simple answer_

_Then each love will figure_

_To one perfect world_

Trunks took a deep breath and tried to figure things out. Marron was talking, he was aware of that, but what she said just slipped past his head. He looked past her, down the few rows of white beds, walls, floors… so much white. It finally hit him that he was in a hospital.

So then that would mean…

"_You want?"_

If he could have found the strength to talk, he would have sworn. Not much remained in his memory, but he placed the pieces together.

He tried mumbling questions to Marron; she smiled and put her hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, everything's going to be just fine."

_None is just where one pretends and wanders._

_Counting for a Perfect World to mind us._

Trunks sat in the bed curled up in a blanket and staring at the phone on the bedside table. They weren't going to call. He thought himself lucky that they didn't officially disown him though. They were angry, and although they didn't kick him out, everyone thought it best that he stay somewhere else and recuperate for the time being.

Everyone but him.

Sure, having a break from people was great… but there wasn't exactly any place for him to go. Marron made the offer. "Come stay with us, at least until the baby comes." Then what? Go home? Fuck that. There was no more home for him. So, for now he was stuck in what would one day become the baby's room.

Goten was another matter all on his own. He was distant, really distant. He barely spoke in fact. Whatever had happened that day at Zai's a month ago, it had really shaken him up. He was healed physically now, but not mentally.

It was August, Trunks had settled in with the Sons for about a week now. Bulma had said she would phone, but Trunks knew it wouldn't come for a long time. It was funny, but that didn't really bother him. He had more pressings matters. You see, he was staring at the phone, but no matter what he thought about, it all went back to one thing:

"I need a hit."

The hospital had been bad. Marron was there most of the time, And occasionally Gohan as well. Mind you, that was it. At night he would scream and fight for a hit, the nurses and doctors took a bit of pity on him and jacked him up on morphine to help. But it wasn't the same.

First thing he did when he got discharged was lose Marron and buy some heroin. He was careful, and took it at night, just a bit, just to calm him down. Just to keep him focused. He would be up during most of the night, and he'd sleep through the day.

Trunks could finally say that his life had no meaning.

He wanted to die. Had wanted so for about a month.

_If we add the fractions_

_To the simple answer_

_Then each love will figure_

_To one perfect world_

It was guilt that shut Goten up.

Guilt that he hadn't helped his friend sooner, guilt that he hadn't noticed this happening to his friend, guilt that he was able to be so happy, and his best friend, his _best friend_, was miserable and practically writing it in neon lights.

He felt bad for Marron, she had the sick Trunks to look after, the distant Goten to try to re-connect to, and of course the baby to plan for. He felt like his life was over and that he was dragging this wonderful girl down with him.

God, he had been so stupid before. Why had he done what he had? Why hadn't he done what he should have?

Why were there so many why questions and so much time to ask them?

Goten got out of the shower and tried to think about happier things. Like, in about five months he was going to be a father. It was scary to think about it in most scenarios, and yet he was actually starting to look forward to it. He would have a child… so he would be a father.

But five months was a fucking long time to live through.

Trunks looked down the hallway both ways and then walked out of the elevator. He was trying to stop taking heroin, he really was. Everyday he had just a little bit less, but everyday he got more anxious and out of touch with reality. He had a job now, or at least he kept himself busy by working at the Indigo by the Paramount theatre. All he had to do was stock shelves all day, and that was something he could handle.

After work he would go buy some more heroin, either off of Cody, or some other dealer by the church. Goten, of course. didn't notice and Marron was simply too busy to notice. So everything was working out for him… in an odd way.

In many ways, and almost all, life wasn't working out for him. But that's very easy to forget when you're stoned.

Right now, Trunks felt that he really deserved to be stoned, screw taking the hit at night. He needed it now. There was nothing more stressful than working with people all day. So Trunks slipped into the apartment and made a beeline to his room.

"Hey Trunks." Marron greeted him, looking up from her book as she read in the living room/future T.V. Room.

"Hey," he said hurriedly in passing.

"Bad day I take it," she mumbled to herself and went back to her book.

Trunks closed his door and closed his eyes. It was so much more hurtful to your soul to take heroin when you knew that it was wrong. Well, probably everyone who takes heroin has a vague notion that it's bad. But when you actually hate the stuff, and rely on it, it gnaws at your soul piece by piece.

It was maybe fifteen minutes later when Goten came back after his day at work, but he didn't come home right away, he had spent a little while under the bridge as well. He looked at Marron for a second, and then went into the kitchen.

"My boys are all back," Marron said smiling as she looked up from her book at Goten in the kitchen. "Have a nice day at work?"

"No," Goten said, taking a sip from the milk carton.

"So bad that you forgot what glasses are right?"

"Huh?" Goten looked confused and stared at her as he held the carton.

Marron made a motion with her hand and if she was holding a glass. "You know, those cylinder thingies we have to hold liquids that we intend to drink."

"Oh glasses," Goten put the carton back and rubbed his eyes. "Right, I'll remember next time."

"Well I hope you remember one of these times…" She mumbled and went back to her book.

Goten walked past her and grabbed the newspaper off of the couch. He looked it over for a few minutes and then stared down at Marron. "You say that Trunks was home?"

"He arrived but a few minutes before you," she said, not looking up.

"Oh…" Goten leaned sideways and looked down the hall. "Pretty quiet…"

Marron looked up from her book at Goten. "Didn't really notice… Maybe he just went to sleep, it didn't look like he had that great of a day at work."

Goten was silent, but intense as he walked away from Marron then and went down the hall to Trunks' room. He knocked once, and waited for a few seconds. Marron put her book down and went over to Goten.

"Trunks?" She asked quietly, and before Trunks could answer, Goten opened the door.

The two stared in silence for a few seconds as Goten let the door swing wide open. Trunks was on his bed, he was lying down, his eyes barely open. Almost looked like he was just falling asleep, they may have thought that, if they hadn't seen the needle lying on the floor next to the bed.

Goten just leaned against the doorframe, not really able to hold himself up anymore. Marron walked into the room, calling out his name.

"Oh Trunks…" Goten mumbled out under his breath. "Why the fuck…?"

(OH JESUS! You have no idea how much I just wanted to write a bloody chapter! It's been so long since I've done anything with anything on that I just wanted to submit SOMETHING, ANYTHING. Now, I started this chapter a while ago, and finally got a round to finishing. I could go on and write three more pages… but with what? I know what's supposed to happen in a chapter and this is all that's suppose to happen in that one. I think there will be two more chapters after this, and they'll probably be the normal length, but please don't expect them to be soon. I know I should be finishing these stories, but I've just been working on my own stuff so much that I haven't had time. Well, I hope you liked this new instalment, even though it was just a bridge and not much happened in it. Especially after the last chapter, this must seem boring. Oh well, it's all a process. By the by, go to: Addition!

Just how the hell _did_ Trunks get a job?

Trunks sat in the office trying desperately to not twiddle his thumbs. He was trying to sit up straight, look straight at the executives and smile. He hated sitting still, especially when three people were looking over you trying to find _something_ wrong with you. However, if he was going to get a job for Goten's sake, then he'd have to live through this.

Why for Goten's sake? Because it was Goten (along with Marron of course) that he was now living with, and for them he was going to try and better himself. So, he'd get a job, and try to eat right and study hard for University the following year.

Oh, and try to kick heroin of course… and that was the top of his list… always…

"Trunks Briefs?"

The middleman, the executive asked looking over a small file.

"Yes, that's me." Trunks replied with a hint of nervousness.

"Says here you have no previous experience in bookstores."

"No-"

"Or in jobs for that fact."

"Well I-"

"So just what qualities do you have to make us want to hire you over more experience future employees."

Trunks waited for him to continue, and then started talking.

"Well, I'm very fond of books… I read them a lot, and so know a lot about different books and different authors so I'd be able to help people out… and recommend stuff… or something…" Trunks trailed off as the men seemed to glare at him.

"Do you have any management skills?" Manager to the left asked.

"Actually-"

"Have you ever worked with other people." Manager to the right asked.

"Well in school-"

The executive looked over the file as the other two asked him more questions, without even letting him give a proper response.

"Would you even be able to stack the shelves?"

"Take itinerary?"

More, and more questions. Trunks felt like sliding of the chair and pretending to have a seizure or something, but that wouldn't possibly help his current situation. He wasn't going to get the job, he could tell.

"Wait a moment," the exec jumped back in right before the other two were going to dismiss me, I'm sure of it. "Trunks Briefs… is your mother Bulma Briefs?"

Trunks paused, confused.

"Yes."

"Of Briefs Enterprises?"

"That would be her."

He smiled.

"Welcome aboard."

Righty and Lefty looked confused as the exec stood up and offered Trunks his hand. Trunks shook his hand and left feeling very, very confused.


	8. In The Bedroom

8

"Are you sure about this?" Goten asked Bulma and Vegeta as they sat in their living room. Marron was in another room with Bra, keeping her company.

"I'm out of ideas…" Bulma said helplessly.

This has been your only idea, Goten thought to himself, but didn't dare say it out loud.

"And you don't mind all these extra people around?"

"You're always welcome here," Bulma said with a slight smile. Vegeta remained silent, brooding over the whole mater.

"Ok…" Goten said and got up, he went upstairs to Trunks' room.

He knocked once, but no reply came, so he then opened the door and went in to find Trunks lying on his bed asleep.

"Jesus man…" he said and sat down on the bed at his feet. "This is wrong… I know this wrong… and I'm sorry… but _I _really am out of ideas."

Goten patted his leg reassuringly, and left the room.

He locked the door behind him.

"Hello?" Trunks asked once more and knocked on the inside of his door to the possible outside world. "Is anyone out there or not?"

Goten was asleep in a chair on the other side of the hallway, he had been up all night just sitting there and waiting. Nothing would wake him up for quite some time yet.

"Come on guys, this is a really shitty thing to do to a guy!" Trunks said and tried to handle again.

No opening this door. He was locked in.

"Hey!" He yelled a final time and banged on the door.

Goten stirred a little, but didn't wake up. Bra however, emerged from her room and went down the hall to see what the commotion was.

"Trunks?" She asked with a sleepy voice, yawning a bit. "Anything wrong?"

"The door's locked. It's locked and I'm in here. I'm locked in my fucking room!" Trunks banged on the door again getting really frustrated with the whole ordeal.

"Yeah…" Bra said a little guilty. "I know…"

Trunks paused. He took a calming breath and started talking again. "You know? What do you know?"

"That you door's locked and I'm not allowed to unlock it."

Trunks almost laughed. "Bra. Open the door."

Bra looked at Goten. Should she wake him up?

"Bra?"

"I can't…"

"Open the door Bra," Trunks said a little forcefully.

"But-"

"Open the fucking door!" Trunks yelled and banged on it as hard as he could.

"Goten!" Bra yelled and started shaking him as he was already stirring from the banging. "Trunks is going crazy!"

Goten jolted awake and took in his surroundings. He was in a chair in the hallway; Bra was beside him… and there was noise. He looked at Trunks' door.

"Trunks?" He asked getting up and walking to the door. "Trunks, calm down."

The banging stopped.

"Calm down?" Trunks asked from inside with bitterness. "Calm down… why the fuck should I calm down? You people have locked me in my room! What the fuck!"

"We had to do something…"

"Something! What do you mean you had to… had to…" Trunks trailed off. The pieces of the puzzle were fitting in place. "How long are you gonna keep me in here?"

"… As long as it takes."

Trunks went back to banging and yelling.

"Here's an interesting one," Goten read off the paper as he sat by Trunks' door. "Man eaten by giant walrus bred with a money. Apparently it was bred in a deadly experiment last year, this year it lost control and broke out eating… You still awake in there?"

"…Yes…" Trunks silently replied from the other side of the door. He was curled in a ball, covering himself in his blankets.

He was losing his mind.

Three times a day Bulma, Goten or Marron would give him food, and then take him to the washroom… but other than that, he was stuck in his room. Until he rots, he was sure.

Just one hit… if they just gave him one hit… He'd be fine.

He was seeing things it seemed. If he stared at something for too long, or not long enough, it seemed to change and become real, or disfigured. He was running a fever, throwing up all he ate, and he would get so cold. He'd get under some blankets then, but after a while he'd be too warm, so he'd get out and soon it was freezing again. It was driving him insane.

"You feeling ok?" Goten asked worried, every day Trunks seemed to get a little further away, a little more… out there. Sicker too, he just got worse. How the hell would this ever help him?

"I feel like shit," Trunks said, he didn't smile, it was said all in full bitterness.

"I'm sorry man, but-"

"But what!" Trunks yelled back at him, he didn't move though, he felt if he moved he'd throw up… again. "But you're trying to help me! This is killing me! This isn't helping!" Trunks thought he might cry. It was just so painful…

"It'll be ok man…" Goten faced the door, as if he could actually stare at Trunks. "It'll be ok."

"Stop saying that!"

"Trunks-"

"Goten?" Marron's voice from down the hallway. "How are things going?"

"Marron? Is that you Marron? Tell this fucking psycho to let me out!" Trunks yelled from in the room.

Goten looked at Marron pleadingly, maybe pleading her to comply, or maybe pleading her just to help him out. She wasn't too sure.

"… You hungry?" She asked Goten, trying to ignore Trunks. Trying desperately to ignore Trunks.

"Marron!"

"I can go make you some food…" Marron started getting tears in her eyes.

"MARRON!" Trunks started banging on the door despite the pain of moving.

"If you want…" A tear fell down Marron's cheek. Goten sat there transfixed, not knowing if he should go to Marron or stay with Trunks. "I'll go do that," Marron mumbled and walked off.

She made the decision for him.

Behind Goten, Trunks started screaming.

"Elephant is born with wings," Goten read, falling quickly asleep.

How much longer did they have to do this?

"Stop reading that shit…" Trunks mumbled lying by the door in a ball, he couldn't even sit up any more. He could barely talk. It came out quiet and muffled. Goten had to strain to figure out what he was saying.

"You like the tabloids…" Goten said looking at the door.

"Just… talk to me." Trunks pleaded without actually pleading. "You've been here more than a week… but you haven't really talked to me…"

"I… I don't know what to say." Goten stuttered out, surprised by how much Trunks had just said.

"Say anything… just talk…"

"Well, I'd tell you about my last week and a half, but you were with me for it…" Goten said throwing the paper away.

"Tell me about your baby."

"My baby?"

"Yeah… how is it…?"

"It's not even born yet."

"I know… but it's still there… it's still alive…"

"Well… I imagine it's very troubled by all of this… we all our."

"Even my parents?"

"Especially your parents."

Trunks let out a quiet laugh.

"I haven't even seen my father since the hospital…"

"He's dealing in his own way…"

"Same way as everything…"

"He does love you Trunks."

Another laugh, a little louder this time.

"Then I'm sure he can tell me himself."

"Well-"

"Change the subject."

Goten thought for a moment.

"Well… you know, I think you're gonna be out of there very soon."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I was talking to this doctor guy, and he said withdrawal is like the flu, same symptoms and stuff, and this won't last longer than two weeks."

"The flu?" Trunks asked lifting his head up.

"Yeah, like you throw up what you eat, the fever-"

"The flu?" Trunks sat up. "I've had the flu… this is not the flu."

Trunks' voice was louder, more determined. Goten wondered if perhaps he had said the wrong thing.

"The flu doesn't make you feel like you want to die! The flu doesn't give you the urge to throw your whole life away for some stupid needle because it makes everything better! If you knew what this felt like! You wouldn't say it was the flu! It's not the flu! It's death! Death! Death! DEATH! I'm dying here and all you can do is say I have the flu!"

"I didn't-" Goten tried protesting.

"Fuck you!" Trunks yelled and banged on the door. "Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you! I fucking hate you!"

Trunks kept yelling, and kept banging on the wall.

Goten backed up, his mouth open, his eyes tearing up.

"I HATE YOU!"

Say nothing, he thought. Say nothing, because this means nothing. He's just angry… he's upset… he's dying…

But he couldn't stay, and for the first time in that week and a half, Goten left the top floor and went outside to get some fresh air.

(Yes, Trunks is losing his mind… then again, it's arguable that he lost it a long time ago. I've been dying to write this chapter for… for… oh forever. Now that's it's finally out, I can safely say that there will be one or two more chapters following it. I can't wait for the baby to be born! Sounds odd when the writer says that, huh? But I get into these stories just as much, or even more than readers do. I get all anxious about what will happen next. It's odd. Hell, in that last scene there I got all teary eyed, I don't even know if it was very sad, I just put myself in Goten's place I do that a lot and got teary eyed. Oh yeah, did everyone read the 'Special Addition' in the last chapter? I put that chapter up without it in the first place, and only wrote it today actually. By the by, these last few chapters won't be edited until I do the massive edit when all this is finished, I'm just really busy. Ok! So I'll hopefully see/talk to you guys next week with a chapter for whatever story I feel like finishing that week. Reviews are most appreciated! Cao!)


	9. To Zai

9

Trunks opened his eyes and felt his drowsiness fall heavily upon him. He was tired… but something kept him awake. Not pain, no, the absence of pain. It was over then? It was finally over?

He sat up and looked around his room. It was completely trashed. His sheets were ripped, his posters torn down, his clothing thrown about. It was a long way from being clean, but that wasn't his main concern. For the first time in almost two weeks, he actually felt alive again.

"Hello?" Trunks knocked on the door. "Open up, I'm ok… let me out."

There was no answer. Goten or whoever else was out there must have been asleep… so what now? He couldn't wait for them to open up; he _had_ to get out of there. Breathe in some fresh air, maybe go to McDonalds… there was one by the church.

"No," Trunks thought to himself. "No, I can't and I shouldn't and it's wrong and…" Trunks lost his train of thought as he looked at his window.

If he was all right, and had no intention of getting anymore heroin… did that mean it was ok for him to break out? Besides, he was still mad at everyone for locking him in here. He could take a rest from everyone and then… and then what? Come back here and have a 'heart-to-heart' with everyone? No… that wasn't something he wanted to do.

"I'll make it up as I go," he thought and quickly threw on a t-shirt and opened the window. It opened onto the side of the house; there was maybe a four-metre fall to the ground.

Trunks took a deep breath as he swung his legs over the ledge. "Here goes nothing," he mumbled, and jumped.

"Hey Trunks, you awake in there?" Bra asked as she knocked on the door. Goten wasn't in his usual spot, and nobody else was upstairs… but it was around the time Trunks normally woke up, so Bra took it upon herself to check on him. "I think mom might be making some breakfast. You hungry?"

No response.

"Oh c'mon Trunks! Wake up!" Bra knocked harder, but no answer.

The thought that maybe Trunks had hurt himself suddenly shot through her head and Bra took a chance and unlocked the door.

Inside she found his room like she had never seen it before. In a complete disarray, totally unlike Trunks who tended to be something of a clean freak at times. The room just reminder her of how much heroin had completely fucked her brother up. Then something else caught her eye.

Trunks wasn't there.

"Trunks…?" Bra asked meekly knowing there would be no answer.

Her bangs fluttered on her forehead. Fluttered? "The wind…" Bra mumbled and looked up at the window. Realization hit her straight on and she ran to the window and looked down. No one was there.

"MOM!"

Trunks walked along Princess Street with his arms wrapped around himself wishing that he had worn a jacket. It was so cold. Was it really fall already? Or was this the sickness wearing off? It didn't really matter what was causing it, more to the point; the matter was that he was cold.

He paused and went through his pockets, he had about $30, and that thought was both good and bad. What was he going to buy? What was he doing? Where was he going? He should just turn around right now and go home. Maybe nobody had even noticed his disappearance yet.

Looking up the road he saw the church. His brain was working against him; he was heading right to the place where he shouldn't go. He knew the people there, he could make a good deal with them... But no, he shouldn't.

He felt like screaming, he was so frustrated! Why couldn't he just walk the other block and get stoned? Why the hell did it have to be bad and wrong and all that other shit? Why couldn't he just forget!

Taking a deep breath he sat down and tried to figure out what he was going to do. He couldn't go back, he couldn't go forward... so he'd have to go somewhere else... And suddenly he knew where he wanted to go.

Without a second thought he got back up and held his hand out, seeing a taxi driving along the one way street towards him. The taxi stopped and Trunks got in, instantly enjoying the warmth.

"Take me to the greyhound bus terminal," he said, and the taxi began to drive off.

"Where do you think he's gone!" Bulma asked, clearly worried.

"Where do _I_ think he's gone?" Goten sounded angry. "To get more drugs, probably."

"Goten," Marron warned under her breath.

"Oh Goten... you don't honestly think..."

"I don't know what to think anymore!" Goten turned away flustered. Sitting around and talking about a problem wasn't going to solve anything.

"So what? We call the police?" Vegeta asked, sitting down at the table.

"Is Trunks in trouble?" Bra asked from beside her father. Vegeta looked at her and sighed.

"I'm not too sure Princess."

All the guilt and misery Goten had felt for Trunks had been stolen from beneath him. Trunks had ran from them and their help. Trunks didn't care anymore. Had they failed him? Had there ever been any hope? Was he out there right now getting a hit and damning all his friends and family?

Images of the past months rushed through his head as everyone discussed what to do next. Images of Trunks, Maron, Zai, and bundled up. He felt so angry then. Angry at everyone, because suddenly everyone was to blame, and without a word of warning he grabbed his coat and left the Briefs' residence.

The four remaining people watched Goten leave with a confused face.

"Should we...?" Bulma began to ask.

"Maybe he's going to look for Trunks," Bra said.

"Yeah..." Marron agreed, watching the door with intense eyes. She knew Goten was upset, everyone was... but... something was wrong. There were so many questions she had about Goten, her husband. She had known him since she was little and yet... she didn't know him, not completely. There was something deep within him that he had never shared with anyone before.

She wanted so desperately to run after him and talk with him, try to comfort him... but she just couldn't convince herself to move, she was stuck just standing there, looking at the door and wondering where he was going.

Wondering if maybe he would never come back.

Trunks almost couldn't believe what he was doing. After paying the taxi and walking into the bus terminal Trunks found himself buying a ticket for Joyceville, a place just a few minutes away. He knew what was there and a part of him knew why he was going... and yet he still couldn't believe what he was doing.

After an agonizing twenty minute bus ride he found himself standing on the side of the street, holding his return ticket and thinking to himself: "I could just wait here for the bus, I don't have to go anywhere." But he figured he might as well go somewhere, because he had about six hours until his bus home showed up.

He had six hours to go to the minimum security penitentiary here in Joyceville and see Zai.

Just thinking about doing that made his stomach turn. Of all the places he could have gone, and the people he could have seen, somehow Zai's name kept coming up and wouldn't leave. Some part just needed to see him, just needed to know 'why'. He didn't even know if they had visiting hours today or if you needed to call ahead.

He felt defeated, knocked down. He felt like he was trapped in a downward spiral and that maybe, just maybe, if he finally confronted Zai, that things might just get better for him.

He started walking, trying to waist as much time as possible. The cold didn't seem to bother him anymore as he tried to figure out what day and month it was.

It was a grey and cold day and Trunks couldn't help but wonder if it wasn't November... but that just seemed so wrong. Wasn't it just August? Where had all that time gone?

The walk took a long time, but time was lost to Trunks. When he finally found himself shivering in front of the Pittsburgh Institution, it was just past 11:00 p.m. The building was low and was not terribly nice looking, unlike the penitentiaries in Kingston that resembled castles. This one was simple.

He walked in, his mind reeling, trying to figure out what he was doing there. He could see Zai, he quickly found out, and that seemed to calm him down for some reason. He filled out a sheet, with a smile on his face and was led to a room to wait.

"Ok, you can come in now," a guard said and led them into a long room. There was a table going down the centre, chairs along it, but there was no glass in between where they sat and where the prisoners would sit.

Trunks took a seat and waited. Part of his mind was still screaming at him that he could easily just leave right now and not have to worry about-

The doors opened and the inmates walked in, among them was Zai. He looked different, worse than Trunks remembered. His hair was longer and messy, his face unshaven. He looked paler and had bags under his eyes. Trunks realized that he had probably been forced off of heroin as well.

Zai stopped walking when he saw Trunks sitting there, shock clearly on his face, but he quickly got over it and took a seat in front of Trunks, staring at him in complete confusion.

"Come to gloat?" Zai finally asked, breaking the silence.

"No... though the thought had crossed my mind..." Trunks answered truthfully.

"So, uh... why are you here?"

"I'm... not entirely sure," Trunks rubbed his forehead. "But I felt like I had to."

"Had to?"

"Had to..."

"You all ready got me fifteen years in here, what more do you want?"

"_I_ got _you_ fifteen years?" It was Trunks turn to look shocked. "It's not _my_ fucking fault _you_ decided to-"

"Ok, ok, shut up. I'm the only person I can blame," Zai said in a sarcastic voice as he rolled his eyes. "Didn't help that your mom practically owns this city.

"... If it makes you feel any better, we both got busted that night."

Zai raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Yeah, apparently I got finned $500 because of the heroin."

"Lucky bastard, I got another year... I'm gonna be so fucking old when I get out of here..."

"You seem to be taking it well."

"Oh Trunks, what the fuck do you want?" Zai asked annoyed, raising his voice.

Trunks paused. "I wanted to ask you a question."

"One question?"

"Yeah..."

"Fuck, go for it. Not like I'm going anywhere."

"Ok... Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why everything?"

"Between us?"

"Well of course! Why the fuck did you screw up my life!"

Zai didn't say anything.

"Why? Why the fuck did you single me out above all else to completely destroy? My life is gone because of you..."

"_Your_ life is gone..." Zai rolled his eyes again.

"Yeah, we're even, I guess. But I still want to know why."

"I bet it keeps you up at night, huh?" Zai leaned back in his chair. "I wonder if you have nightmares about me."

"What keeps me up at night is trying to figure out how anyone can be so utterly fucked up in the head that they feel the only way to better their life is to destroy someone else's."

"Trunks... I'm not going to give you an answer, and I don't know why you came all this way to find one..."

"Yeah? Me neither..." Trunks put his head in his hands and sighed, but then he looked back up again. "I'm leaving now... and I'm never coming back."

"Fuck, I never thought you'd show up once."

"I hope you have fun in here, and I'm sorry you couldn't express your feelings better."

"I'm sorry you can't express your feelings at all."

"What the hell does that mean?" Trunks was starting to get annoyed with him. Why in the world did he come here?

"You know what I don't get about you Trunks? You keep asking questions you already know the answer to."

"Thanks Magneto."

"I'm serious. I don't get that about you. You live in your own head, man. I don't think it's healthy."

"Fuck you, and goodbye." Trunks got up and started walking away. Questions he already knew the answers to... He shook his head, not bothering to look back at Zai. He told himself that this was the end. He was going to forget about Zai, forget about heroin, forget everything.

His life wasn't over. Though he had lost a part of it, he hadn't lost it all. He wasn't like Zai in that way. He still had a chance.

He was going to get his life back.

(Wanna know something crazy? I started writing this little ditties August 1st, 2002, and am finishing it today March 22nd 2004. That's just crazy... Now, a lot of things are said here... and yet not said. There's a lot about this fic that I like staying subtle because that's just the way I am, and that's the way life is. You don't get clear answers in life, even though the answers are RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU. Anybody get my X-Men reference? But yeah, one more chapter, just to finish up. There are things with Goten that need to be resolved... but will they? Will I take another two years to write the final chapter! Who knows! Aoi: I knows...)


	10. A Child

(When's the baby coming? The baby's coming now! Chapter ten, final chapter! (It only took me three years to write this... sheesh...)

10

Trunks stepped off of the bus and was finally back home, back in his city and his head felt clear for the first time in months. He felt like he could achieve anything and he felt like he'd never have to even think about heroin again. Life was finally back on track..

But he couldn't go back to his family. Not yet... He couldn't bear all the questions and yelling that his disappearance had surely caused... and yet how could he just let them continue to think that he was missing? He did have to go _somewhere_, he couldn't just sleep on the side of the road.

Sighing, Trunks swallowed his pride. They were his family, they were his friends... he shouldn't be afraid to go back to them. Things were better, he knew that for sure., so what was he really so scared of?

Most people thought of home as the one place you could go to and feel accepted. The one place where no matter how strange, or normal you were, there were people there who would always love you. There were people there who'd go to your funeral and cry their hearts out because they missed you so much. At that moment though, for Trunks, going home felt like going backwards.

Still he went, found the courage to want to go, and thought to himself that once he went back there, once he told everyone that everything was all right... then he would leave again, and he would set things straight with his life. He'd get his own apartment, get another job, and go to school.

Of course, before any hugging or smiles and laughter, his mother had immediately slapped him. He let that one slide, especially because right after she started hugging him and crying and saying how much she loved him.

Vegeta had stayed silent, though he always did whenever he was angry, and he did look very angry. Maybe it was just his mind playing tricks on him, but for a moment it felt as though Vegeta was glad to see his son come home same and sound... that he was happy to have a son... though Trunks could never be entirely sure if that was true.

Everyone was there, friends, family, even Goku was there... everyone except for Goten, the one person he really wanted to see. It wasn't hard to figure out where he had gone. Once the house had settled down and everyone who was supposed to went home, Trunks found himself once again in his room looking at the window and wondering if he could jump out of it again without breaking his leg.

Vegeta was still in the living room, and he knew that if he walked by him there would be something said between them... which would most likely lead to an argument, because they really had nothing else to say to each other.

That, and the idea of sneaking out for a second time made him smile for some reason. Maybe because if he was going to move out, there was little time left for him to be able to sneak out of the window.

The one place he could always count on finding Goten, the one place he always went to whenever he was upset or troubled, the one place where he felt safe... Under the bridge.

He was there, without a doubt, though this time he wasn't smoking pot, and Trunks wondered if he ever would again. It wasn't a bad thing that, just different really. Different was ok at this point though.

Trunks sat down beside his best friend, but Goten didn't say a word, didn't even look up at him, just keep on staring straight ahead. Trunks almost smiled. It felt as though he were trying to comfort Goten... shouldn't it have been the other way around?

"...Goten?"

"What do you want?" Goten asked quietly.

"To talk... I guess. I mean, I thought we should talk."

"And what should we talk about?" Goten still wasn't looking at Trunks.

"About... about whatever you want to..." Trunks sat down beside him.

"I've got nothing to say..."

"I know something's wrong."

Goten paused. "Yeah? Well you are the smart one..."

"You left, nobody knew where you went."

"So they sent you?"

"Hell no, I'm sure they would have locked my back in my room if they heard I was going out again."

Goten paused, and almost looked over at Trunks. "You didn't... did you?"

"You mean... did I go get heroin and get really doped up and wander around the city?"

"..."

"No, I did not."

"Why leave?"

"Why stay?"

"Because people care about you and you can't..." Goten looked over at Trunks for the first time, tears brimming his eyes. "You can't just wander off like that when we care about you, and we're scared for you... and we... Fuck, we love you man."

Trunks smiled, almost laughed

"Oh fuck you," Goten rubbed his face in his hands. He was cold and hungry and was realizing it for the first time.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to laugh... I just feel like I'm in a Hallmark movie all of the sudden."

"I don't recall Hallmark movies ever having heroin, rape, teen pregnancies and whatever other fucked up things have happened in the past few months."

Trunks felt his mood turn towards sombre once again. "So... is that why you left?"

"I guess."

"You sure?"

"Just forget about it man, it's not important."

"Of course it's important... it's you. You may possibly be, and don't let this get to your head, the most important person in my life."

"Then how come you never told me what was going on?"

"Because I didn't want anyone to know... especially you."

"I left because I was pissed of at you... pissed off at everything. Here I am, married, having a child, trying to work full time... and there you are, fucked up and seemingly beyond help. I felt like the world had been pulled out from my feet like a carpet."

"Didn't I do that to you when we were kids?"

"I guess I felt a little... overlooked."

"Like... you were jealous?"

"I wanted someone to tell me everything was going to be all right... but nobody thought they needed to say that to me. Especially not you, who probably could barely remember my name..."

"I could never forget your name."

"Ok, you're right, this is turning into a Hallmark movie."

Trunks smiled, and this time Goten smiled with him. It felt good, for the first time in what felt like ages, everything felt normal for a brief second.

"Can you just... do me one favour?"

"At this point, I probably owe you more than one favour."

"Just one."

"Ok, just one."

"Never do drugs again," Trunks rolled his eyes. "No seriously. Any drugs, ever again. If you do, I swear I will never talk to you again, and I hope our friendship is more important to you than drugs."

"I promise I will never even look at drugs again."

Goten nodded. "Good..."

"If this were a Hallmark movie, we'd be hugging right now."

Goten turned back to the tracks and smiled. "Don't push your luck."

It was strange to think of how small he was. His little fist could curl around Goten's finger so easily. His entire hand fit into the palm of his hand. Impossibly small and delicate, but here he was, Goten's son. All of his worries seemed so small and stupid as he looked down at him, smaller than even he was...

He wanted to pick him up, but he was so scared that he's hurt him. How could he not hurt something so small and precious when he was so much bigger and, let's face it, far too clumsy to hold a small child?

Ten months ago this seemed impossible and crazy, but now it seemed normal and fine. Everything seemed normal and fine now.

Trunks had gone to school in the new semester, and was at that very moment speeding down the road - undoubtedly at a very dangerous and unsafe speed - to meet him at the hospital. Things were going to work out for Trunks, he knew that much... and if they didn't, well, he hoped he'd be able to be around to help him out.

Marron was planning on going to University herself next fall, Bulma, Chichi and Marron's own mother had all offered their babysitting services during the day.

He himself was never cut out to go to post-secondary education, and he was just fine with that. As it would turn out, heading straight into the workforce like that wasn't as unbearable as he thought it would be... especially as he looked down at his son and smiled to himself.

I have a son, he thought giddily. Who would have though that I'd _ever_ have a son? Not me...

"He's not going to disappear, he's real."

Goten looked over and saw Marron sitting up in the hospital bed. He smiled gently at her. She looked tired, unbelievably stressed out, and yet there was so much happiness her eyes at that moment. The same thought must have been going through her mind.

I have a son.

"I didn't want to wake you."

"You didn't, but we all need to wake up some time," she smiled. "Bring him over."

"Uh..." Goten looked down at the small beautiful baby boy. "Sure I won't hurt him?"

Marron laughed, she couldn't help herself. Her laughter was like music to his ears. "Of course you won't hurt him. He's not made of glass..." she looked more serious for a moment, "though you don't want to drop him."

"Drop him?" An entirely new fear entered his mind. How easy was it to drop a baby? He could slip through his arms, or wriggle his way out, or-

"Goten, it's all right to pick him up."

He nodded and smiled. "Ok," he reached down and put his hands under his son's back, trying to remember what the nurse had said about supporting the baby's head when he held him - what had started in his fear of holding his son if the first place. He held his breath and bit his lip and he lifted him up.

The baby didn't break, didn't cry and didn't magically fall to the ground. He just rested in his father's arms and looked up, a familiar confused look on his face.

Then he slowly walked over to Marron and - quite gladly - handed him over to Marron.

"Heh, he didn't break."

Marron smiled. "Of course he didn't break." She looked down at her son with content. "He's so perfect... and he doesn't even have a name."

"We probably should have thought about that before hand."

"Well somebody hated all my ideas."

"Well somebody's ideas sucked. Come on, Herbert?"

"A respectable name at best."

"And a ridiculous name at worst."

"Well you vetoed that one, so let it go."

Goten looked down at the floor for a moment.

"What's wrong?"

"I think I know what I want to name him... I just don't know if it's right."

"No harm in telling me what it is."

"I was thinking... maybe we could call him... Trunks..."

"Trunks..." Marron looked up at her husband. "It's not a bad name."

"I think… it's quite a nice name."

"Little baby Trunks?" She looked down at her son. "Ï think Trunks would throw a fit if he hear us say that."

Goten smiled. "All the more reason to name him that."

He reached out and brushed the hair off of her forehead, happier now than he had ever been before. This was his family, this was where he belonged, and he couldn't ask for anything else.

The End

(I realize that waiting around for me to write is quite similar to waiting around and, say, watching grass grow. So I do have a great amount of respect for those who do especially Rasqara, Qasur Zephlar Exlarr, Malevolent Angel, Forbidden Angelus, jedijunkie, Chloe-Wagner, Aoi Dragon, Tilea, Mr. Trunks Briefs and J.S., most whom all have me on their 'author alert watch list'. Well either way, this is the end of this specific fic, so here's some end-notes. I finally changed the rating on this fic. It was 'R' for a while, but only because I thought it should be '18A'... and there was no '18A' - is it a Canadian thing? Anyway, now has this thing where you don't see 'R' rated Fics - unless you ask - and that was pissing me off. So I said to myself: "Change it, it should have never been 'R' in the first place you dingbat." If any of you weak hearted Americans see this as a terrible sin, I'll change it later. Hm... part of me is sad that I won't be able to write this Fic anymore, and the other part - the part that started writing this Fic almost four years ago - barely remembers what this Fic is and is just pleased that I can take down another Unfinished notice. So I was going to put down the other quote from Trainspotting, but it didn't seem right anymore. Because I spent so much time finding it a whole five bloody minutes, it's after my comment and is currently summing up my life quite nicely at this moment I had to mention Hallmark movies, and I'll tell you why: I work at a Hallmark and the movies they make are so lame and retarded that I simply have to make fun of them. Oh man, it would have been so easy to make that scene very, very gay... But I resisted LOLBanky: You have one sick and evil little mind... My next project - another DBZ classic - 'Creeping Death'! The slightly successful sequel to 'Yume Mi'. Well, I hoped you enjoyed this Fic, I know I liked writing... maybe that's why it took me so long, because I just never wanted to finish it. But it's finished now, and that's all there is, there isn't any more)

_I'm cleaning up and I'm moving on, going straight and choosing life. I'm looking forward to it already. I'm gonna be just like you. The job, the family, the fucking big television. The washing machine, the car, the compact disc and electric tin opener, good health, low cholesterol, dental insurance, mortgage, starter home, leisure wear, luggage, three piece suite, DIY, game shows, junk food, children, walks in the park, nine to five, good at golf, washing the car, choice of sweaters, family Christmas, indexed pension, tax exemption clearing gutters, getting by, looking ahead, the day you die._


End file.
